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Pulling US troops would lead to 'disaster' -- Kissinger
Nov 27 1:00 PM US/Eastern
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Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger warned that a hasty pullout of
American troops from Iraq would lead to political and military "disaster",
and called on the US administration to stay the course there.

"I think to look at withdrawal from Iraq ... could lead to disaster," said
Kissinger, who served as the top US diplomat in the administrations of
presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

"We have to keep in mind what our objective should be, and if we leave Iraq
under conditions at the end of which there will be a radical government in
Baghdad, or part of the country becomes a haven for terrorism, it will have
turned into a disaster that will affect the whole world," Kissinger said in
an interview with CNN television.

He added that the global nature of terrorism makes it particularly difficult
to chart a US exit strategy from Iraq.

"The terrorism is not confined to Iraq. It has gone from Bali in Indonesia
to central Europe across many countries -- Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Tunisia,
Morocco, Spain, in some respects India," the former diplomat said.

Kissinger was speaking amid a raging debate in the US political
establishment over whether Iraqi forces are ready to take over from US
troops and whether a timetable for a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq
should be made public.

Kissinger told CNN that it is important to frame the discussion in broader
terms.

"We should ask ourselves very thoughtfully what the political situation will
be that will allow us to withdraw troops, and not simply put it in terms of
the training of Iraqi troops," he said.