Baghdad, Sept 12 (ANI): Anti-American cleric Muqtada Sadr has asked his followers not to launch attacks on U.S. troops who are scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of the year, but warned that they would face consequences if Washington refuses to withdraw troops by the set time.
In a statement on his website late Saturday, Sadr said that "to ensure the completion of Iraq independence and the withdrawal of the invading troops from our holy lands, it becomes obligatory upon me to cease the military operations of the honorable Iraqi resistance until the withdrawal of the invading troops is completed," the paper said.
"If the withdrawal is not completed and Iraq remains unstable ... military operations will be resumed with greater vigor," the Shiite cleric said.adr's statement comes as U.S. and Iraqi officials are considering a plan to keep a small number of American troops in the country. Over 40,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, but under an agreement between Iraq and the Bush administration in 2008, virtually all should leave by the end of 2011, The Los Angeles Times reports.
Some officials in Washington and Baghdad are worried that the country still is not stable enough and Iraqi security forces still are not strong enough to deal with militant organizations without US help.
U.S. officials had said last week that the Obama administration was making a plan under which about 3,000 troops would remain. More ambitious Pentagon options proposed leaving 10,000 or more. (ANI)
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