WASHINGTON: An apparently official US announcement that Washington is withdrawing its troops from Iraq after nearly 17 years turned out to be an “honest mistake” as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley explained the unsigned letter shared with the Iraqi military was “never sent as a formal memorandum”.

But hours between the announcement and clarification — Monday evening to Tuesday morning — set off alarms as analysts across the globe tried to understand the unexpected move.

It all started when a draft letter from the US military commander in Baghdad, Brig Gen William Seely, to an official at the Iraqi defence ministry went viral on the social media. The letter informed the Iraqi official that the US would be “repositioning forces” to prepare for “onward movement”.

The letter linked the “repositioning” to the Sunday vote in the Iraqi parliament that sought an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. “We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure,” Gen Seely wrote.

Unsigned letter was shared with the Iraqi military for coordination purpose, says Gen Milley

The withdrawal vote followed a US drone strike that had killed top Iranian commander, Gen Qassem Soleimani, at Baghdad airport.

The world media immediately picked up the letter from the Internet and started reporting that the Trump administration was “ending US military presence in Iraq”.

The reports forced America’s top defence officials –Defence Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Mark Milley – to call a news briefing and explain their position.

“Nobody’s leaving,” Gen Milley said. “There’s no onward movement. Honest mistake.”

“There is no decision to leave nor did we issue any plans to leave or prepared to leave. We are committed to the de-ISIS mission in Iraq alongside our allies and partners,” Secretary Esper added.

Asked if he could confirm that Gen Seely’s letter was authentic, Secretary Esper said: No, I can’t.”

Gen Milley said it was an unsigned letter. “Here’s the bottom line, this was a mistake,” he added.

Secretary Esper said the US had been repositioning its troops in the region, largely due to increased security threats from Iran. The letter was meant to coordinate an increase in US military movements around the country with the Iraqi defence officials, Secretary Esper and Gen Milley added.

But London’s Guardian newspaper noted that despite the clarification, “the future of the US presence in Iraq is in question”.

A CNN report pointed out that “the timing of the incident was unfortunate, coming as military officials, along with other members of President Trump’s national security team, continue to face questions about the killing of commander Soleimani”.

A White House official told CNN that President Trump was “concerned” about the mistake, asked his aides about the letter and “wanted it cleaned up”.

“The confusion lingered even after the two men left the Pentagon briefing room and persisted until Gen Milley returned to clarify further,” CNN noted.

“That letter is a draft. It was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should not have been released [...] (it was) poorly worded, implies withdrawal, that is not what’s happening,” Gen Milley said. “It should not have been sent,” he added.

Gen Milley said the unsigned letter was shared with the Iraqi military for the purposes of coordination and was never sent as a formal memorandum.

He said he believed that the draft was “leaked” by someone that the Iraqi military had provided it to.

A US official in Baghdad told CNN that the letter was a notification about repositioning of troops from one place to another.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2020