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Gates backs off troop target
16/09/2007 23:42 - (SA)
Washington - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Sunday backed off a suggestion that US forces in Iraq could be cut to about 100 000 troops by the end of 2008.
Any reductions beyond a planned drawdown announced by President George W Bush would depend on security improvements on the ground in Iraq, Gates stressed on Fox News.
"What I said was I hoped the conditions would improve in Iraq to the extent that not only could we complete the drawdowns that General (David) Petraeus would like to make, but we would continue thereafter," he said.
"So everything depends on the conditions on the ground."
Bush said on Thursday he was adopting recommendations by US Iraq commander Petraeus to cut force levels after security advances notably in Anbar province, where tribal leaders have joined the fight against al-Qaeda extremists. Combat brigades will drop
As a result, Bush said, about 5 700 US troops will come home by Christmas, and the number of combat brigades will drop from 20 to 15 - a decrease of about 21 500 combat
troops - by mid-2008.
That would take US troop levels down to about 130 000, roughly their number before Bush launched a military "surge" in Iraq in February.
On Friday, Gates said the reductions mark the start of a transition of the US military mission in Iraq to a residual long-term force that would combat terrorism, support Iraqi forces and protect the country's borders.
"My hope is that when he does his assessment in March, that General Petraeus will be able to say that the pace of the drawdown can continue at the same rate in the second half of the year as the first half of the year," Gates said then. 'That would be the math'
Asked if that meant a reduction to about 100 000 troops by January 2009 when a new president takes office, Gates said on Friday: "That would be the math."
On Fox News, the Pentagon chief said:"I didn't actually use the number" of 100 000. "Somebody else, one of the people who asked the question, jumped to that number," he said.
Gates added that "if we were to continue drawdowns, it would be because the situation in Iraq had continued to improve dramatically".
- AFP
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