Rice Optimistic About Withdrawal Of Troops From Iraq This Year
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Washington – Secretary of State Rice forecast yesterday that there could be a “significant” withdrawal of American forces from Iraq this year.
“I think it is entirely probable that we will see a significant drawdown over the next year,” she said. “It is all dependent on events on the ground.”
Her language was more optimistic than previous comments by President Bush and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. She echoed statements by military commanders, who have said they would like the force to be trimmed to below 100,000 from its current level of 133,000 within months.
But Ms. Rice was careful to say that any withdrawal depended on Iraqi troops being able to assume more responsibility.
