BAGHDAD — The United States has completed preparations for a major
troop reduction in Iraq.
Officials said the Defense Department intends to withdraw more than
20,000 troops by February 2006. They said the Pentagon would not replace
major military units scheduled to leave Iraq over the next few months.
The U.S. military plans to reduce its presence in Iraq from 160,000 to
at least 137,000 by early February 2006, officials said. They said the
military and Pentagon envision the withdrawal to continue throughout next
year.
[Iraq has about 220,000 trained and equipped soldiers and police, and
officials expressed satisfaction over their effort to protect voters
and polling stations during the Dec. 15 elections. Over the next six months,
the number of security forces was expected to reach 300,000, Middle East Newsline reported.]
"We should be down to the old baseline [of 137,000] there I'd say
probably around the end of January, maybe early February," Gen. George
Casey, the head of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, said.
Officials said two brigades, numbering about 3,500 troops each, would
not be sent to Iraq. The brigades had been meant for deployment in Iraq in
early 2006.
The Pentagon plan envisioned that the Iraq Army would take over large
areas of the country during the first half of 2006. The army was expected to
take over much of the Diyala province in January.
"We should not expect the insurgency to just go away because of
yesterday's [Election Day] great success," Casey said in a briefing on Dec.
16. "But we should expect it to be gradually weakened and reduced as more
and more Iraqis adopt the political process, and the root causes of the
insurgency are addressed by the new Iraqi government and by the coalition."
Casey said that by 2007 the Iraq Army could take the lead regarding
counter-insurgency operations throughout the country. He said that more than
30 battalions have already taken the lead in such missions.
"I think you'll see the smaller units, the brigades coming online in a
fairly large way by the summer, and I think the divisions you'll see in the
lead here probably in the late fall and end of the year," Casey said.
An Iraqi lead unit is deemed capable of planning and conducting missions
with U.S. help. Such U.S. military aid has often meant the provision of
helicopter or other air support.
Officials said additional U.S. troop reductions would be based on
recommendations by Casey and U.S. Central Command chief John Abizaid. They
said both men were interested in further withdrawals.
"We anticipate coming down from a high of 160,000 to 137,000 sometime in
January, and as the seating of the new government takes place, Gen. Casey
and Gen. Abizaid will make recommendations about how we might be able
to further reduce coalition forces," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.
"And I expect that to happen during 2006. We will see a drawdown as
conditions permit."
