Iraq War Watch: United States Troops Reduced 20 Per Cent in Iraq

U.S. Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and Army personnel view a homemade rocket launching tube (C) found in the desert near a U.S. military base outside the western Iraq town of Hit January 28, 2006. The Marines found the weapon while searching the area in and around Hit for hidden weapons caches and insurgent activity.

AFP: US troops in Iraq cut by up to 20 percent: US general

The United States has reduced its forces in Iraq by up to 20 percent in the last two months, but may choose to raise the number of troops if the situation worsens, a top US General reportedly said.

“We have reduced our forces already in Iraq by about 15 or 20 percent over the past couple of months,” General John Abizaid, commander of the US Central Command, told Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas.

“I would expect that they will continue to come down, but only based on the degree of stability that is achieved there. You wont see a rapid withdrawal of American forces,” he said.

“You will see American forces starting to come down as Iraqi forces start to come up, but if there is a spike in the security situation that would send Iraq in a bad direction, we are also willing to put in additional forces. So, well judge it,” he said.

Abizaid said that about 220,000 Iraqis are currently serving either in the police or in the armed forces that have “good capacity to ultimately defend Iraq and work against the insurgents and the terrorists.”

This is good news from Iraq.

Currently more than 140,000 American troops remain in Iraq.

Previous:

Iraq War Watch: Lt SMASH Asks Rep. Bob Filner – Success or Failure?

Iraq War Watch: NO WMD’s But Saddam Trained Thousands of International Terrorists – REDUX