July 8, 2004
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
WASHINGTON -- With an interim Iraqi government now in place, the Pentagon is beginning long-range planning on how to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by 2006, senior military officials said yesterday.
Pentagon officials have previously said that about 135,000 troops would stay in Iraq through the end of 2005.
But the military's Joint Staff is working on detailed plans to reduce that number by 2006, on the assumption that Iraqi army and other security forces will by then be ready to take on more responsibility, officials said.
On Capitol Hill yesterday, the top operations officer for the Joint Staff, Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz , signaled that this thinking is well under way.
When asked about planning for the size of the U.S. force that will move into Iraq for yearlong assignments beginning in late 2005 and early 2006, he declined to specify troop figures but said: "There is a significant planning effort that will wrap up later this summer."
A senior defense official said later that the Joint Staff was developing options for a smaller force in Iraq. Some officials said those options involve about 100,000 troops, or less, but then cautioned that troop levels could also increase if security in Iraq worsened.
Reducing U.S. force levels in Iraq has been a goal of the Bush administration, although any reduction would almost certainly come after the November elections.
The continued U.S. presence is also a sore spot for the new Iraqi government as it seeks to establish credibility with the Iraqi people. And reducing it would lessen the strains placed on the U.S. Army by troop commitments in Afghanistan and other countries.
Democrats and Republicans voiced concern at yesterday's hearing on troop rotation that the Army was wearing out its active duty and reserve forces.
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