Defense Secretary Esper says U.S. has made no decision to leave Iraq

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Monday that the United States has not made any decision to leave Iraq, shortly after the U.S. military said in a letter to Iraqi officials that U.S. forces would be relocating “to prepare for onward movement.”

On Sunday, Iraqi lawmakers passed a nonbinding resolution calling for foreign troops to withdraw.

In the letter, released Monday, Marine Corps Brig. Gen. William H. Seely III said that U.S. forces “respect your sovereign decision to order our departure.” A U.S. military official confirmed the letter’s authenticity.

But in a day of confusion, Esper said at the Pentagon that he could not confirm the authenticity of the letter because he had seen it only after it had been leaked. He said the letter “is inconsistent with where we are right now.”

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the letter “was a draft, it was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should not have been released.”