Iranian leader: U.S. should speed up pullout

[unhappycamper]

Iranian leader: U.S. should speed up pullout
By Ali Akbar Dareini - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Feb 28, 2009 15:01:20 EST

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s supreme leader told the visiting Iraqi president Saturday that the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq more quickly than planned because any delay is harmful to the country.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came a day after President Barack Obama said the U.S. will pull all combat troops out of Iraq by August 2010 and all remaining soldiers by the end of the following year.

“Military occupiers have to leave Iraq as soon as possible because any single day delay in their withdrawal is harmful to the Iraqi nation,” Iranian state television quoted Khamenei as saying to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Iran, which views the American presence in Iraq as a threat to its own security and regional influence, has described the U.S. military presence as the main cause of Iraq’s problems and has repeatedly called for immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

The U.S. has blamed Iran for fomenting violence in Iraq by supporting Shiite militias in the country — a charge Tehran denies.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/02/ap_iranian_leader_iraq_022809/%2e