World > >Terrorism & Security
posted December 26, 2005 at 11:00 a.m.

US troop reductions depend on insurgency

Pentagon plan hinges 'on several variables.'

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

General Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday that the plan to reduce US troop levels in Iraq depends on how the situation in Iraq evolves over the next several months. The Los Angeles Times reports that Gen. Pace, echoing the words of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, said there is no specific number of troops the US wants to keep in Iraq now that the general elections are over.

If the insurgency is strong, Pace said on the Fox News Sunday talk show, it is possible that troop levels could rise, not fall.

So if things go the way we expect them to, as more Iraqi units stand up, we'll be able to bring our troops down and turn over that territory to the Iraqis.

But on the other hand, the enemy has a vote in this, and if they were to cause some kind of problems that required more troops, then we would do exactly what we've done in the past, which is give the commanders on the ground what they need. And in that case, you could see troop level go up a little bit to handle that problem.

The Washington Post reports that any US reduction would "be visible" on a map of Iraq.

[Pace said,] "You'll be able to have two colors on it – one that's currently controlled mostly by coalition forces, and the other that's currently controlled mostly by Iraqi forces – and watch the colors change."

Agence France-Presse reports that Pace also admitted that Iraqis wanted US and other foreign troops to leave the country. "They don't want us to leave tomorrow, but they do want us to leave as soon as possible."


12/23/05 US, Britain to reduce troop levels 12/22/05 Appeals court denies US attempt to move Padilla case 12/21/05 Where's bin Laden?

Sign up to be notified daily: Find out more. Subscribe via RSS: What is this?

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking on ABC News's "This Week," said the number of US troops in Iraq will decrease because the military just can't sustain current levels. He also said if Iraq is going to be ready to take over from the US, the issue of private militias will have to be confronted.

We don't want to go out and fight all the militias, but somehow the Iraqis are going to have to put in place a political system that says the only ones who hold the power of the state, the military and police power of the state, is the state and not individual militias that are loyal to a particular secular or religious figure ...

And so, just don't see it as we create a new parliament and we get some new leaders for the country, and that does it. No. What you really need is institutions, what you need is the rule of law. And the rule of law says that the power of the state has to belong to the state and not to militias. And I think this is going to be one of the real challenges for the new political leadership of Iraq, as well as for the United States and the coalition partners.

The Washington Post reports on the third effort by US troops to pull out of the Iraqi city of Samarra. While violence has decreased – especially since the US troops built an earthen wall that stretches for over six and a half miles and threatened to shoot anyone who tried to climb it – each time the US force has pulled back, the insurgents have returned afterward in greater numbers. US officials are hoping that Iraqi police, who they believe are more prepared for the job, will fill the security void left by the US departure.

Meanwhile, US military officials say they will not transfer individual detainees to Iraqi custody until a higher level of care can be demonstrated. The move comes two weeks after US and Iraqi troops discovered over 100 abused prisoners in Iraqi jails.

"A specific timeline for doing this is difficult to project at this stage with so many variables," said [Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson], a military spokesman. "The Iraqis are committed to doing this right and will not rush to failure. The transition will be based on meeting standards, not on a timeline."

Prisons have been a troubled area for relations between Iraq's Shiite majority and the Sunni minority. Most of the prisoners found recently were Sunni Arabs. The US wants to fix the situation in such a way as to improve relations between the two communities.

The BBC reports that the US military acknowledged that most Iraqi prisons are severely overcrowded, and the original date when the US would hand over complete care of the prisoners to Iraqis could be pushed back.