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bobdina
07-29-2009, 02:28 PM
Gates: Some troops may be leaving Iraq early

By Anne Gearan - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 29, 2009 14:15:51 EDT

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRPLANE — The United States may bring 5,000 American troops home early from Iraq if the trend of reduced violence holds, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday, the first suggestion that the Obama administration might rethink its decision to keep a large residual force in Iraq and pull them out slowly.

The small reduction in forces would speed the return of one combat unit, a move amounting to a symbolic vote of confidence in the turnaround in Iraq.

“I think there’s at least some chance of a modest acceleration” in troop withdrawal this year, Gates told reporters on his plane en route to Washington from Baghdad. His comments came after discussions with his top commanders in the war.

Violence is at an ebb, with fewer attacks on U.S. soldiers recorded in a recent month than had once been seen in a week.

U.S. officials had worried that last month’s formal handover of control of Iraqi cities to Iraqi security forces might erode gains already made. But Gates said Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. general in Iraq, told Gates the security situation is better than expected.

The United States has about 130,000 forces in Iraq, with current plans calling for most combat forces — or more than 100,000 troops — to remain in the country until after Iraqi national elections in January.

It was largely because of Odierno’s concerns that the coming Iraqi election would trigger a rebound in violence that President Barack Obama decided on a slow withdrawal.

Though Obama announced in February that he would end the American combat role in Iraq, officials said at the time that the president had accepted a recommendation by U.S. officials and commanders in Baghdad to maintain substantial military forces there until after the January Iraqi election to help guarantee a safe ballot. The decision disappointed many anti-war Democrats.

Under the initial plan, the United States would draw down from 14 brigades to 12 this year. The withdrawal pace would have quickened after the January election, leaving about 50,000 forces in Iraq by September of 2010.

Gates stressed Wednesday that the idea of speeding up that pace is preliminary and tied to continued good news in Iraq.

“It depends on circumstances; it may or may not happen,” he cautioned.

The Iraqi government welcomed the news and said government security forces were working toward the same goal but need more arms as well as training.

“This also must coincide with the speedier training and arming of the Iraqi security forces,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said. “We are ready to take over. The faster the U.S. troops withdraw, the faster we can fill in the gaps.”

The United States is rapidly closing down the active war effort in Iraq. Many remaining troops, such as a group of artillery soldiers Gates visited this week, are shifting to become backseat advisers to the Iraqi armed forces.

At the same time, Obama is more than doubling U.S. forces in Afghanistan. His top military advisers say that fight is now the No. 1 military priority, and fighting is fierce in some districts.

Odierno told reporters that the Iraq conflict is not over, but he conceded that some of those he leads “might tell you they would rather be fighting in Afghanistan.”

“I’d gladly accept a change of mission to Afghanistan,” right away, said Staff Sgt. Gregory Holter, who is assigned to one the prototype advisory units that Gates reviewed during his trip.

The new unit is based in southern Iraq, where attacks are rare. In a notable exception two weeks ago, a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy carrying the American ambassador.

Continued bad blood between Iraq’s Arab-led central government and the self-ruled Kurdish region in the north represents the major wild card to a faster pullout, Gates spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

Concern is growing that North-South tensions over land and resources could become a shooting war once U.S. forces leave. Gates spent much of his two-day visit in Iraq warning both sides that U.S. forces will not be around to keep the peace forever, and he offered U.S. help to mediate.

“These are some fundamental issues and I think it’s important that both the government in Baghdad and the Kurds have pursued them through political means,” so far, Gates told reporters after meeting earlier Wednesday with Kurdish President Massoud Barzani in Irbil, capital of the Kurdish self-rule area.

Gates said he told his hosts that all sides had spent “too much in blood and treasure” since the 2003 U.S. invasion to risk losing it now.

The Kurds have been locked in a dispute with Baghdad over control of oil resources and a fault line of contested territory in northern Iraq, particularly the flash-point city of Kirkuk. The disagreements have stalled a national oil law considered vital to encouraging foreign investment. U.S. officials have warned that Arab-Kurdish tensions could erupt into a new front in the Iraq conflict and jeopardize security gains elsewhere.

Kurdish leaders say they are committed to staying in a unified Iraq, particularly since an independence push could alienate neighboring Iran, Syria and Turkey, which have their own Kurdish minorities. But Iraqi Kurdish politicians must answer to the strong nationalist sentiment among Kurds.