Thursday, October 12, 2006
U.S. troops to stay in Iraq until 2010
Military
For planning purposes, the Army is gearing up to keep current troop levels in Iraq for another four years, a new indication that conditions there are too unstable to foresee an end to the war. Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, cautioned against reading too much into the planning, which is done far in advance to prepare the right mix of combat units for expected deployments. He noted that it is easier to scale back later if conditions allow, than to ramp up if they don't.
Schoomaker's comments were the latest acknowledgment by Pentagon officials that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq is not likely in the immediate future. There are now 141,000 U.S. troops there. At a Pentagon news conference, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, said that as recently as July he had expected to be able to recommend a substantial reduction in U.S. forces by now. But that plan was dropped as sectarian violence in Baghdad escalated.
While arguing that progress is still being made toward unifying Iraq's fractured political rivalries and stabilising the country, Casey also said the violence amounts to "a difficult situation that's likely to remain that way for some time." He made no predictions of future U.S. troop reductions.
Schoomaker's comments were the latest acknowledgment by Pentagon officials that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq is not likely in the immediate future. There are now 141,000 U.S. troops there. At a Pentagon news conference, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, said that as recently as July he had expected to be able to recommend a substantial reduction in U.S. forces by now. But that plan was dropped as sectarian violence in Baghdad escalated.
While arguing that progress is still being made toward unifying Iraq's fractured political rivalries and stabilising the country, Casey also said the violence amounts to "a difficult situation that's likely to remain that way for some time." He made no predictions of future U.S. troop reductions.
