- Title: JAPAN: Iraq's Maliki says no timetable needed for U.S. troop withdrawal
- Date: 10th April 2007
- Summary: (BN09) TOKYO, JAPAN (APRIL 10, 2007) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI SAYING: "Because we are progressing on the security issue day by day, because we have security responsibility handed over to us, we see there's no need for a withdrawal timetable. Because we are working as fast as we can, we exercise our right of asking the international troops to leave the country. And this will be better than setting a timetable that will probably not be needed. We are working as fast as possible, and what will govern the departure of the multinational forces is the achievement and victories we manage to obtain on the ground -- and not a certain timetable." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI PRIME MINISTER NURI AL-MALIKI SAYING: "To demand the departure of the troops is a democratic right, and it's a right we respect. This right is like the one exercised by the U.S. Congress and it is also being exercised by organisations within Iraq. And this is natural. And what governs their departure at the end of the day is how confident we are, how reassured we are about the handover process, and how sound the handover process should be according to the international resolutions. NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
- Embargoed: 25th April 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Japan
- Country: Japan
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA8U41R4KUGJNLBCJZF1TFHK6XZ
- Story Text: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Tuesday (April 10) that setting a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq was not necessary.
"We see there's no need for a withdrawal timetable," Maliki told journalists at a news conference in Tokyo.
"What will govern the departure of the multinational forces is the achievement and victories we manage to obtain on the ground -- and not a certain timetable," he said.
Maliki spoke a day after tens of thousands of people waving Iraqi flags staged a rally in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf to demand the withdrawal of U.S. forces. The protest was held on the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to U.S. troops.
He stressed that Iraq had the right to decide when to U.S. troops should leave the country.
"To demand the departure of the troops is a democratic right, and it's a right we respect," he said.
Maliki was in Tokyo to seek more support from the Japanese government and private companies to help rebuild his war-torn country.
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