US letter to Iraq says it is pulling out troops, later calls it a 'mistake'

The US military on Monday wrote to the Iraqi government telling it that the US troops were preparing to pull out of the country but a top US general in Washington said the message was sent by "mistake". The head of the US military's Task Force Iraq informed his Iraqi counterparts in a letter dated Sunday that troops were preparing to leave. The letter said that the US respected Iraq's sovereign decision.