US Should Declare Victory and Leave Iraq, Says Top Military Officer

A top US military officer in Baghdad has stirred controversy by arguing in a confidential memo that the American presence in Iraq has outlived its welcome and that it was time "for the US to declare victory and go home".

'We beat the shit out of those Eyeraqi kids'

The memo, leaked to the New York Times, was written by Colonel Timothy Reese who calls for all US troops to be pulled out of Iraq by August next year. He draws on the adage "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days," adding: "Since the signing of the 2009 security agreement, we are guests in Iraq and after six years in Iraq, we now smell bad to the Iraqi nose."

Under that Status Force Agreement, the US has agreed with the Iraqi government to complete withdrawal by the end of 2011. Though the numbers of troops pulled out so far is limited, the US military has begun to quit Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. More

U.S. Adviser’s Blunt Memo on Iraq: Time ‘to Go Home’