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The Pentagon plans to shrink the U.S. troop
presence in Iraq
Reuters
U.S. military considers lower troop levels in Iraq
Will Dunham
November 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to shrink the U.S. troop
presence in Iraq, currently 155,000, to about 138,000 after the Dec. 15 Iraqi
elections and is considering dropping the number to about 100,000 next summer
if conditions allow, defense officials said on Wednesday.
But officials said a variety of planning scenarios, including the
possibility of no cut in troop levels, are being reviewed based on political
and security conditions in Iraq and progress in developing U.S.-trained Iraqi
security forces.
The officials stressed no decisions had been made. This comes amid
intensifying debate in the U.S. Congress over whether U.S. troops should be
withdrawn after 2-1/2 years of war in Iraq.
"The United States military looks at the full range of things that could
occur in Iraq and makes plans accordingly, and makes plans for conditions that
would lead to a smaller coalition force as well as conditions that would lead
to a larger coalition force," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
Whitman said the plan was to drop back to 138,000 troops, considered the
recent baseline level for the U.S. force, following the Dec. 15 elections in
which Iraqis will select a new permanent government.
The Pentagon increased U.S. troop levels in Iraq ahead of the Oct. 15
referendum in which Iraqis approved a constitution, and the U.S. force peaked
in October at about 161,000, the highest level of the war. After temporarily
dropping by several thousand troops, the size of the U.S. force again is rising
to help provide security for the Dec. 15 elections.
In March and again in July, Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander
in Iraq, predicted a "fairly substantial" reduction in American forces next
spring and summer if Iraq's political process goes positively and progress is
made in developing Iraqi security forces. Pentagon officials said in August
that meant a reduction of perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 troops from the level of
138,000 then in Iraq.
PHASED REDUCTION
A defense official, who asked not to be named, said such a cut remains under
consideration, but options for a smaller cut or no reduction remain on the
table.
"There is the potential over the course of next summer to get to 100,000.
Nothing is going to happen fast. It will all be phased," said the official.
"If you start going down below that, you might be sending a message that
we're cutting and running," the official added.
The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, said on Tuesday
a "precipitous pullout" of U.S. forces would be destabilizing to Iraq.
The considerations come amid debate in Congress over the future of U.S.
involvement in Iraq. Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, an influential Democrat
on military affairs who fought as a Marine in Vietnam and voted for the Iraq
war, called last week for U.S. forces to be withdrawn within six months.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday she suspected American
forces "are not going to be needed in the numbers that they're there for all
that much longer" due to progress being made by the Iraqis.
Defense officials said the political debate will not drive decisions on
troop levels.
U.S. forces are engaged in a fierce fight with insurgents. There have been
2,108 U.S. military deaths in a war that began in March 2003, the Pentagon said
on Wednesday, with another 15,804 troops wounded in action. Thousands of Iraqis
have also been killed.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is forecasting an improving security
situation. Last week he said, "In terms of Iraq, the insurgency is going to
diminish, I think, after these elections."
"So I think we'll see the coalition forces being able to pare down,"
Rumsfeld said.
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