Iraq Wants Quick Withdrawal of U.S. Troops - 2 other stories!

[Trojan]

Iraq Wants Quick Withdrawal of U.S. Troops

By ROBERT BURNS

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's transitional prime minister called Wednesday for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops and the top U.S. commander here said he believed a "fairly substantial" pullout could begin next spring and summer.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the time has arrived to plan a coordinated transition from American to Iraqi military control throughout the country.

Asked how soon a U.S. withdrawal should happen, he said no exact timetable had been set. "But we confirm and we desire speed in that regard," he said, speaking through a translator. "And this fast pace has two aspects."

First, there must be a quickening of the pace of U.S. training of Iraqi security forces, and second there must be closely coordinated planning between the U.S.-led military coalition and the emerging Iraq government on a security transition, he said.

"We do not want to be surprised by a withdrawal that is not in connection with our Iraqi timing,"' he said.

Speaking earlier with U.S. reporters traveling with Rumsfeld, Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, said he believed a U.S. troop withdrawal could begin by spring 2006 if progress continues on the political front and if the insurgency does not expand.

Rumsfeld was planning to get a firsthand look at the training of Iraqi security forces by watching a demonstration by a group of Iraqi special forces soldiers using live ammunition at a training range run by American troops.

U.S. officials describe a variety of security forces being developed. Foremost is the Iraqi army, comprised mainly of infantry battalions, although there also are to be four tank battalions. The army now has about 77,000 soldiers, and it is scheduled to expand to about 85,000 by December. It includes "intervention forces," to lead the Iraqi effort against the insurgency.

There are now about 94,000 police, most for standard traffic and patrol work. That is to grow to about 145,000 by December, and it includes "special police" commando battalions as well as a mechanized police brigade that will be a paramilitary, counterinsurgency unit intended to deploy to high-risk areas using light armored personnel carriers.

The organization in charge of training and equipping Iraqi security forces is the Multinational Security Transition Command, headed by Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who last week was announced by the Pentagon as the next commander of the Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He is to be replaced in Iraq by Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who spent more than a year in Iraq as commander of the 1st Armored Division.

The effort to build a reliable Iraq security force has been slowed by a number of problems. One that can be traced to the earliest days of the U.S. military occupation was the virtual disintegration of the Iraqi army that existed when American troops invaded in March 2003. Some say this was made worse by the decision of L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator of Iraq starting in May 2003, to formally disband the Iraqi security forces.

Another problem has been infiltration of the security forces by insurgents. In its report to Congress last week, the Pentagon acknowledged that this remains a problem and it still is unable to say just how much infiltration there is, despite efforts to improve vetting of recruits.

Rumsfeld said en route to Iraq on Wednesday that Iraqi leaders must take a more aggressive stance against what he called harmful interference from neighboring Syria and Iran.

He said he would be pushing the Iraqis to provide more people who can be trained by U.S. personnel to handle the growing number of detainees in the country, now estimated to number at least 15,000.

With a permanent Iraqi government scheduled to take power in January, following adoption of a constitution and an election in December, they need trained prison guards "so that as soon as it is feasible we can transfer responsibility for Iraqi prisoners to the Iraqi government," he said.

Rumsfeld has often criticized Iran and Syria for meddling in Iraq's affairs. In his remarks Wednesday, he put the main onus on Iraqi leaders to do more to fix the problem.

"They need to be aggressively communicating with their neighbors to see that foreign terrorists stop coming across those borders and that their neighbors do not harbor insurgents and finance insurgents," he said in an in-flight interview with reporters accompanying him from Tajikistan.

[Source]

[Trojan]

US may sharply cut Iraq force within year -general

BAGHDAD, July 27 (Reuters) - The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq within the next year, its top commander on the ground said on Wednesday.

"I do believe that if the political process continues to go positively, if the developments with the (Iraqi) security forces continue to go as it is going, I do believe we will still be able to make fairly substantial reductions after these elections -- in the spring and summer of next year," General George Casey said at a briefing with visiting Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Iraq is scheduled to hold two elections in the coming months: a referendum on a new constitution in October and an election for a new leader in December.

Casey made a similar prediction of troop cuts early this year, but U.S. officials have avoided repeating predictions that give a timetable for withdrawals since the insurgency in Iraq worsened sharply when the new government took power in April.


U.S. President George W. Bush said in a keynote speech last month he would withdraw American forces as soon as Iraqis were prepared to take over security responsibility for the country, but he said it would be dangerous to announce a timetable.


During a joint news conference with Rumsfeld, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari also said the Americans should leave soon.


"The great desire of the Iraqi people is to see the coalition forces be on their way out as they (new Iraqi security forces) take more responsibility," he said.

[Source]

[Trojan]

Rumsfeld: U.S. desires 'fast pace' Iraq pullout

Meantime, top American commander says withdrawal may start next spring



U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, left, holds a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, in Baghdad, on Wednesday.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's transitional prime minister called Wednesday for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops and the top U.S. commander here said he believed a "fairly substantial" pullout could begin next spring and summer.

Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a joint news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the time has arrived to plan a coordinated transition from American to Iraqi military control throughout the country.

Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, told U.S. reporters traveling with Rumsfeld that he believed a U.S. troop withdrawal could begin by spring 2006 if progress continues on the political front and if the insurgency does not expand.

[Source]

[Sal UK]

I can see there being a lot of problems when a withdrawl is done, I think a lot will leave the army due to ill health caused by the stress of the war, And people that just had enough in general from what they have seen and done.

Here is where the problems start coming in, Because there are less signing up for the military and if we dont have the soldiers to fight that only leaves countrys one option the Nuclear one, I see very dark days ahead if this does actually happen, Im only basing this of what I have seen so far in the news with soldiers coming home for a bit of R'n'R and not been willing to return to action, Its not only the US but here in the UK also.

They are very Brave men and Woman that are risking their lives, I would not be able to do what any of them do.

Not that I would be much good being colorblind and suffer from Epilepsy.

I think we owe a lot to the Brave and need to give them a BIG boost when they get home, So they can see they are well respected.