Troops May Not Even Shrink to Pre-Surge Level

[bigtree]

Friday September 14, 2007 7:46 PM

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Even with cutbacks promised by President Bush, the United States may wind up with thousands more troops in Iraq next summer than before the buildup of forces he ordered in January.

Bush approved the redeployment of five Army combat brigades and three Marine contingents between now and July 2008, but that does not account for thousands of support forces - including military police and an Army combat aviation brigade - that were sent as ``enablers'' and that apparently will stay longer.

When Petraeus delivered his much-anticipated Iraq report to Congress on Monday, he said he had recommended to Bush that they send home the Army and Marine forces that were part of the buildup Bush announced in January. Petraeus did not mention a troop reduction total, but the impression gained by many in Congress was that it was equivalent to the approximately 30,000 in the buildup.

In an Associated Press interview Thursday, Petraeus suggested the number would be less than 30,000 but he would not provide a specific figure. He said his staff was working out redeployment details.

It appears the reduction will be closer to 25,000, possibly less. Forecasts of future troop levels in Iraq are hazardous, as history has shown, because of the unpredictable nature of the conflict. Large reductions were planned for the latter half of 2006, but a flareup in violence killed that proposal.

In the interview, Petraeus mentioned one concrete example of a support element that likely will be kept after the ``surge'' combat forces leave. He cited some 2,000 military police sent last spring to help manage the extra detainees captured in stepped-up U.S. offensives in Baghdad and elsewhere. Some of those, he said, probably would remain after the extra combat units are withdrawn . . .


report: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6922225,00.html

[ewoden]

1. Well shoot Bush can't count to 36 what makes you think he

can work with bigger numbers?