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[00:01.15] Drafted by the United States military command in Baghdad,was sent out

[00:04.14] by mistake.

[00:05.39] The furor it caused prompted Defense Secretary

[00:08.39] Mark T. Esper and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark

[00:12.39] A. Milley, to call an urgent news conference to deny the reports.

[00:16.15] "It was an honest mistake," General Milley told reporters at the

[00:20.89] Pentagon.

[00:22.39] "That letter is a draft, it was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should

[00:26.90] not have been released." "There's been no decision made to leave Iraq,

[00:31.15] period," Mr. Esper said.

[00:33.64] "There is no decision to leave, nor did we issue any plans to leave."

[00:38.14] But because the Iraqi Parliament voted on Sunday that American troops

[00:42.65] should leave the country, General Milley said, military officials have

[00:46.89] begun making arrangements for a withdrawal in the event that a decision

[00:50.15] is made to pull out