Speaker of Kurdish Parliament urges U.S. to reconsider Iraqi pullout

The U.S. and Iraq should reconsider the approaching withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Kermal Kerkuki, speaker of the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament, said at a Sept. 23 Newsmaker at the National Press Club.

Kerkuki, who headed a group of Kurdistan parliamentarians on a trip to Washington and other U.S. cities to meet with their legislative counterparts and foreign policy professionals, said he felt strongly that such a pullout would likely result in increased violence and endanger hard-won progress toward human rights and democracy in Iraq.

Kerkuki, who said he was jailed four times and wounded twice in his fight against Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath party rule in Iraq, identified several critical issues that remain unresolved in Iraq, including territorial disputes within the country, the integration of Kurdistan's local military forces into Iraq's army, and oil and gas rights.