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** Biden Must Abandon Plans to Withdraw US forces from Syria and Iraq ([link removed])
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by Con Coughlin • February 2, 2024 at 5:00 am
* [T]he priority now for the White House must be to strengthen its military presence in the region, not reduce it. Worse, the vacuum created by any withdrawal by US troops is sure to be filled by adversaries of America and the free world.
* Any US withdrawal is sure to be seen, especially after the US surrender in Afghanistan, as America running away -- again.
* [I]t would be folly of the highest order for the Biden administration even to contemplate a reduction of US forces in the region. With Iran clearly intent on pursuing its proxy war against the US and its allies, the US needs to demonstrate its determination to prevent Tehran from expanding its malign influence in the Middle East, rather than capitulating in the face of Iranian violence.

With Iran seemingly intent on intensifying its confrontation with the US, it is hard to imagine a worse time for the Biden administration even to consider withdrawing any of the US forces currently based in the Middle East. Pictured: US Army soldiers, part of the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, at the K1 Air Base northwest of Kirkuk in northern Iraq, on March 29, 2020. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images)

With Iran seemingly intent on intensifying its confrontation with the US, it is hard to imagine a worse time for the Biden administration even to consider withdrawing any of the US forces currently based in the Middle East.

Prior to the latest Iranian-sponsored attack on US forces based in Jordan, in which three serving American service personnel were killed and another 34 were injured, the White House had already opened negotiations with the Iraqi government on the future of US and other allied troops based in the country.

A statement issued by the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, after the first round of talks opened in Baghdad at the weekend, declared that the talks were aimed at ending the US-led coalition in Iraq.

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