U.S. puts Iraq withdrawal plans under wraps to discourage attacks

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Source: Wash. Post

The U.S. military has stopped announcing its plans for turning over facilities to the Iraqi government because of concerns that insurgents were using the information to stage attacks, a top American general said Thursday.

“As bases close, some adversaries try to take advantage and attack us. . . . Some attacked on transition day,” Maj. Gen. Thomas W. Spoehr, deputy commanding general of U.S. Forces-Iraq, said during a telephone news conference from Iraq.

Spoehr said the departure schedule, which once was publicized to assure the Iraqi public about the U.S. troop withdrawal , is now kept “under wraps.”

The U.S. military once occupied more than 500 bases in Iraq. It now has 22. The Iraqi military controls most former U.S. bases.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-puts-iraq-withdrawal-plans-under-wraps-to-discourage-attacks/2011/10/13/gIQAGw4LiL_story.html