Iraq, US set up joint command center
16:52, 14 June 2009
ASTANA. June 14. KAZINFORM Iraq and the US have set up a joint command center to coordinate operations after the US forces withdraw from Iraqi cities and towns at the end of June, Kazinform refers to Trend News.
Iraq's Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Mohammed al-Askari has declared that the Joint Military Operations Coordination Committee would be empowered to give authorization to US forces to intervene militarily from July 1.
The opening of the center is part of an interim deal signed between Iraq and the United States in November. Under the deal, the US forces will withdraw from the Iraqi cities and towns by July 2009 and from the whole country by the end of 2011.
Iraq has already taken over more than three-quarters of the military bases the US is to hand over before June 30, Askari revealed.
The command center will be based in Iraq's Defense Ministry which is located in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, Kazinform cites Trend News. See www.news-en.trend.az for full version.