U.S. announces GI cuts in Iraq

About 7,000 Troops to come home
By Borzou Daragahi and Greg Miller

BAGHDAD — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced a modest reduction of U.S. troop numbers in Iraq on Friday, as American officials said Iraqi forces are enjoying newfound success blocking insurgents trying to enter the country from Syria.

The drawdown will amount to about 7,000 troops from brigades that were scheduled to deploy to the war-torn country but will now remain in the United States or be diverted to Kuwait, the Pentagon said.

The total number of U.S. forces in Iraq has hovered around 160,000 over the past month, reflecting a buildup for last week’s parliamentary elections. Rumsfeld’s announcement means that by early 2006, the number of American troops in the country will drop below 138,000 for the first time in a year.

Even though the reduction is slight and will take place nearly three years after the U.S. invasion, it will enable President Bush to claim a measure of progress, perhaps venting some domestic pressure for a drawdown while holding to Bush’s insistence that it be based on conditions on the ground.

It also will give American commanders an opportunity to argue that U.S. troops do not represent a permanent occupation force.

Military officials including Rumsfeld, who paid a surprise visit to Iraq this week, praised Iraqi forces for their work during parliamentary elections Dec. 15 and said they have grown more adept at controlling the porous Syrian border…

     “We feel very pleased by the progress of the Iraqi forces and the role they are playing providing security,” said Rumsfeld, flanked by Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq.

U.S. officials for months have complained that Damascus has not tried to control the border. But Casey said that U.S.-Iraqi operations along Iraq’s western border aimed at preventing potential suicide bombers from entering the country had paid off and that Iraqis are now exercising more control over unruly towns and villages in the area.

Although insurgent attacks killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad over the past two days and 14 Iraqis northeast of Baghdad on Friday, Casey said the number of suicide attacks had dropped from 60 in June to 26 in November. There have been 16 so far this month. He said that was evidence border control efforts were succeeding.

“We had to credibly say they had control over that border before we could offer up some of our guys,” he said.

Under the plan outlined by Rumsfeld, portions of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division would remain at home in Ft. Riley, Kan. In addition, the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, based in Baumholder, Germany, will remain in Kuwait as a back-up force. The deployment of both brigades had been halted earlier this month. Friday’s announcement formalized the change of plans.

Casey in recent months has said the presence of the U.S.-led coalition could be fueling the insurgency and undermining the readiness of Iraqi forces.

“In this type of war, more is not necessarily better,” he said at a briefing after Rumsfeld spoke. “Less is better because it doesn’t feed the notion of occupation or the culture of dependency.”

Overall insurgent attacks have remained steady at about 100 a day, U.S. officials said. But Casey said the number of attacks isn’t “necessarily the best way to measure the capabilities of the insurgency.”