Senator Says U.S. Troop Reductions Expected in Iraq

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WASHINGTON — Senator Levin, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said he expects American troop reductions in Iraq later this year.

“I am very confident it’s going to happen,” Mr. Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said yesterday on the CBS News “Face the Nation” program. “The pressure from the American people has been intense.”

The Bush administration is considering withdrawing additional American combat forces from Iraq starting in September, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing unidentified government and military officials. While no decision has been made, at least one and as many as three of the 15 American combat brigades in Iraq could be withdrawn or scheduled for withdrawal, the Times reported.

The American military presence in Iraq is one of the top issues in this year’s American presidential campaign to succeed President Bush.

Senator Obama, a Democrat of Illinois, has said he wants to have most combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months if he’s elected president. His rival, Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, backed Mr. Bush’s decision to send more forces into Iraq and has said they should remain as long as necessary.

Withdrawing additional troops from Iraq “may make sense,” said Senator Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the foreign Relations Committee, on “Face the Nation.”

The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said July 2 that the level of violence has risen significantly in Afghanistan in the past year and that more troops are needed in Afghanistan to fight the militant Islamic Taliban and other insurgents. Yet “he has no troops to send to Afghanistan,” Mr. Lugar said yesterday.

“It is logical in the military sequence that we are going to move troops out of Iraq, not immediately perhaps, to Afghanistan, at least to relieve the strain which is intense right now upon our armed forces,” Mr. Lugar said.

“I continue to believe that we’re under-resourced in Afghanistan and that that is the real sediment for terrorist activity that we have to deal with, and deal with aggressively,” Mr. Obama told reporters while campaigning in San Diego yesterday.

The Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, said yesterday on CNN’s “Late Edition” that with the “considerable improvement” in Iraqi security, “now we can talk about withdrawal.”

“It is the right time now to start talking about planning a time line horizon when are we going to see the end of the combat operation,” Mr. Rubaie said.”We can see in a very short period of time the Iraqi security forces will be reaching the self-reliance status whereby we can relax the requirement for the foreign troops in this country.”

Mr. Rubaie disputed a report in the Washington Post yesterday that America and Iraq had abandoned plans to conclude an accord on the long-term status of American troops in Iraq before the end of Mr. Bush’s term.

“I don’t think this is true,” Mr. Rubaie said. The American and Iraqi governments “have a very clear approach now to go for a comprehensive agreement.”

Mr. Rubaie said the Post article is “missing the point” because there are two aspects of an accord that officials are working on, both strategic and security plans.

“We are working on both tracks, and I think at the end there will be one agreement,” Mr. Rubaie said.

The security adviser said “there is still hope” to have an agreement on the status of American forces by the end of July.


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