BAGHDAD — Officials said preparations for the withdrawal of most of the 135,000
U.S. troops could begin at the end of 2005 in wake of two planned national
elections in Iraq. The elections were meant to ratify a constitution and
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made an unannounced
visit to Baghdad as part of a U.S. effort to press Baghdad to complete a
draft of the constitution by the Aug. 15 deadline. Rumsfeld stressed that
the United States would not tolerate procrastination by the Iraqi government
while U.S. soldiers continue to be killed in insurgency attacks.
"We don't want any delays," Rumsfeld said. "Now's the time to get on
with it. We have troops on the ground. People get killed."
Rumsfeld was scheduled to observe a live-fire exercise by Iraqi special
forces to help determine requirements for accelerated development of the
army and security forces. Iraq has more than 170,000 soldiers and police,
and Rumsfeld has urged Baghdad to use these forces to block the flow of
insurgents from Iran and Syria.
"They need to be aggressively communicating with their neighbors to see
that foreign terrorists stop coming across those borders and that their
neighbors do not harbor insurgents and finance insurgents," Rumsfeld said.
Iraq was also pressed to budget funds for accelerated recruitment and
training of Iraqi military and security forces. Officials said the United
States wants to ensure that Baghdad would replace the 22,000 troops of the
U.S.-led coalition scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2005.
Officials said that over the next few months the U.S.-led coalition
would hand over security responsibility for numerous Iraqi cities to the
government in Baghdad. They said that in the first stage the coalition would
transfer responsibility for 10 cities to Iraqi authorities.
