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
select a leadership.
"I do believe that if the political process continues to go positively,"
Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said, "if the
developments with the [Iraqi] security forces continue to go as it is going,
I do believe we will still be able to make fairly substantial reductions
after these elections — in the spring and summer of next year."
[On Wednesday, Iraqi police announced the arrest of a leading Al Qaida
operative. The operative was identified as Sayed Tantawi, an Egyptian
national and deemed the top aide to Al Qaida's No. 2 Ayman Zawahiri. Tantawi
was arrested in Baghdad, Middle East Newsline reported.]
Casey's assertion, relayed in a briefing on Wednesday, was the first
time a senior U.S. official outlined a timetable for withdrawal. Officials
said the U.S. military hoped that political efforts to end the Sunni
insurgency would be bolstered in wake of the elections.
"Insurgencies need to progress to survive," Casey said. "And this
insurgency is not progressing."
In early July, a British government memorandum referred to a U.S. plan
to reduce its military presence from 150,000 to 66,000 troops by mid-2006.
The Bush administration has not confirmed the purported plan.
Officials said the administration was determined to ensure that the
Iraqi elections take place on schedule. They said the administration has
been concerned that Baghdad would indefinitely delay measures meant to
ensure participation of the Sunni minority, which has harbored the
insurgency movement.
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.
