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WASHINGTON: Improved security in Iraq may lead further cuts in US
forces in the war-torn country in September, top US Iraq general
David Petraeus said Thursday.
“My sense is I will be able to make a
recommendation at that time for some further reductions,” Petraeus
said in confirmation hearings on his appointment to become head of
the US Central Command. “Security conditions have continued to
improve despite the withdrawal of three of the five surge brigades
in July and a 45-day period of consolidation and assessment, with
security incidents falling last week to the lowest point in more
than four years.
A combat brigade consists of about 3,500 troops.
“I do not mean to imply that that would be a
BCT [brigade combat team] or some major formation—but it could,”
he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “But I do believe
that there will be certain assets that, as we are already looking at
the picture right now, we’ll be able to recommend can be either
redeployed or not deployed to the theater in the fall,” he said.
“Weekly security incidents”—attacks on
infrastructure, roadside bombs, sniper and small arms attacks, and
mortar, rocket and surface-to-air attacks—fell from a peak of more
than 1,500 a year ago to about 400 in early May. The vast
development is attributed to the upgraded military operations
against Iranian-backed Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra
and Baghdad’s Sadr City.
Petraeus’ upbeat forecast came as President
George W. Bush made a new push for public support for the war,
telling army paratroopers back from Iraq that a hasty pullout would
increase the chance of another September 11-type attack.
“Withdrawal before success would send a signal
to terrorists and extremists across the world that America is weak
and does not have the stomach for a long fight,” Bush said at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina.
Senate Democrats, including presidential hopeful
Hillary Clinton, pressed Petraeus on how he would deal with the
growing threat posed by al-Qaeda in Pakistan, and a loss of momentum
in Afghanistan.
He said more troops may be needed to pacify
southern Afghanistan, but argued that al-Qaeda’s main effort was
in Iraq and it was appropriate “to do everything that we can there
to pursue al-Qaeda in Iraq.”
-- AFP
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