.General Sees a Longer Stay in Iraq Cities for U.S. Troops
WASHINGTON — The top American general in Iraq said Friday that one-fifth of American combat troops would stay behind in Iraqi cities even after the June 30 deadline that the United States and Iraq had set for the departure.
The estimate by Gen. Ray Odierno, at a Pentagon briefing, was the most specific yet for the extension of American combat operations in Baghdad and Mosul. American combat troops have largely moved out of most other urban areas in Iraq, General Odierno said.
The general declined several times to put an actual number on the combat troops who would remain in Baghdad and Mosul after June 30 because, he said, he did not know the precise number of troops there now. The 134,000 American troops in Iraq include 14 combat brigades. Those brigades number about 50,000 to 70,000 troops.
“I mean, I could give you a number today,” General Odierno said. “It will be different tomorrow, it will be different the next day. O.K.?”
What General Odierno did not say was that the number is sensitive politically in both Washington and Baghdad at a time when President Obama and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq have pledged to reduce American troops in the country but as high-profile suicide attacks have increased. American commanders have already said that those combat troops who remain in the cities will be “remissioned” as trainers and advisers to the Iraqis, although many will still go on combat patrols.
In addition, there are no plans to close the Americans’ Camp Victory base complex, which houses more than 20,000 soldiers, many of them combat troops, even though Camp Victory is only a 15-minute drive from the center of Baghdad and sprawls over both sides of the city’s boundary. Iraqi officials, who are nervous about maintaining security as the Americans depart, have agreed to consider Camp Victory as outside the city.
General Odierno said that the Iraqis and Americans were currently negotiating precisely how American combat troops might be redeployed inside the cities if the Iraqis decided they needed them back. Under an existing agreement, the Iraqis could ask for the American troops to return, but there is no plan yet for how that would be carried out. General Odierno acknowledged that combat troops could leave a city on one day but then be asked by Iraqis to return the next.
He said that he was concerned about the recent suicide attacks but that overall violence was at or near its lowest levels since the summer of 2003. He said it was difficult these days to distinguish between violence driven by the insurgency and criminals working for money. He said he expected low levels of violence in the country up until 2024, and would never say, as former Vice President Dick Cheney once did, that the insurgency was in its last throes.
“It’s not going to end, O.K.?” General Odierno said. “There’ll always be some sort of low-level insurgency in Iraq for the next 5, 10, 15 years. The issue is, what is the level of that insurgency? And can Iraqis handle it with their own forces and their own government?”
General Odierno said he was concerned that Afghanistan, which the administration has branded as its top military priority, could mean fewer resources for him and the effort in Iraq, and that it was his job to let the Pentagon know if he felt short-changed.
“I understand that Afghanistan is now a higher priority,” he said, adding that the United States still had 134,000 soldiers in Iraq, more than double the number in Afghanistan.
General Odierno also said that Iran continued to train and equip surrogates who were conducting “disruptive operations” within Iraq, but that the level of interference had lessened recently.
NYT
The estimate by Gen. Ray Odierno, at a Pentagon briefing, was the most specific yet for the extension of American combat operations in Baghdad and Mosul. American combat troops have largely moved out of most other urban areas in Iraq, General Odierno said.
The general declined several times to put an actual number on the combat troops who would remain in Baghdad and Mosul after June 30 because, he said, he did not know the precise number of troops there now. The 134,000 American troops in Iraq include 14 combat brigades. Those brigades number about 50,000 to 70,000 troops.
“I mean, I could give you a number today,” General Odierno said. “It will be different tomorrow, it will be different the next day. O.K.?”
What General Odierno did not say was that the number is sensitive politically in both Washington and Baghdad at a time when President Obama and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq have pledged to reduce American troops in the country but as high-profile suicide attacks have increased. American commanders have already said that those combat troops who remain in the cities will be “remissioned” as trainers and advisers to the Iraqis, although many will still go on combat patrols.
In addition, there are no plans to close the Americans’ Camp Victory base complex, which houses more than 20,000 soldiers, many of them combat troops, even though Camp Victory is only a 15-minute drive from the center of Baghdad and sprawls over both sides of the city’s boundary. Iraqi officials, who are nervous about maintaining security as the Americans depart, have agreed to consider Camp Victory as outside the city.
General Odierno said that the Iraqis and Americans were currently negotiating precisely how American combat troops might be redeployed inside the cities if the Iraqis decided they needed them back. Under an existing agreement, the Iraqis could ask for the American troops to return, but there is no plan yet for how that would be carried out. General Odierno acknowledged that combat troops could leave a city on one day but then be asked by Iraqis to return the next.
He said that he was concerned about the recent suicide attacks but that overall violence was at or near its lowest levels since the summer of 2003. He said it was difficult these days to distinguish between violence driven by the insurgency and criminals working for money. He said he expected low levels of violence in the country up until 2024, and would never say, as former Vice President Dick Cheney once did, that the insurgency was in its last throes.
“It’s not going to end, O.K.?” General Odierno said. “There’ll always be some sort of low-level insurgency in Iraq for the next 5, 10, 15 years. The issue is, what is the level of that insurgency? And can Iraqis handle it with their own forces and their own government?”
General Odierno said he was concerned that Afghanistan, which the administration has branded as its top military priority, could mean fewer resources for him and the effort in Iraq, and that it was his job to let the Pentagon know if he felt short-changed.
“I understand that Afghanistan is now a higher priority,” he said, adding that the United States still had 134,000 soldiers in Iraq, more than double the number in Afghanistan.
General Odierno also said that Iran continued to train and equip surrogates who were conducting “disruptive operations” within Iraq, but that the level of interference had lessened recently.
NYT
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