MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday hailed the coming withdrawal of troops from neighboring Iraq as a ‘golden’ victory.

President Barack Obama plans to withdraw his 40,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year after negotiations on keeping some forces there failed, a move some politicians say could give Tehran more room to assert its influence.

‘The uniform stance of all tribes and religions in Iraq over America’s pressure to get legal immunity for its occupying servicemen, and ultimately the coercion of America to exit Iraq, constitute a golden page in that country’s history,’ Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after a meeting with Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani, the ISNA news agency reported.

The troops are leaving more than eight years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Tehran welcomed the fall of Saddam, a secular Sunni Muslim who took majority Shi’ite Iraq into a bloody 1980-88 war with Iran, but has always criticized U.S. military intervention.

While it has been rebuilding ties with post-Saddam Iraq, Iran’s relations with the United States have worsened. Washington has warned Tehran not to underestimate its large military presence in other nearby countries.” Read more.

U.S. Planning Troop Buildup in Gulf After Exit From Iraq – “The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran. The plans, under discussion for months, gained new urgency after President Obama’s announcement this month that the last American soldiers would be brought home from Iraq by the end of December. Ending the eight-year war was a central pledge of his presidential campaign, but American military officers and diplomats, as well as officials of several countries in the region, worry that the withdrawal could leave instability or worse in its wake.” Read more.