Pentagon: 8,000 US “Surge” Troops Staying in Iraq
The Pentagon announced on the 25th February that, contrary to expectations, out of the 30,000-strong US troop “surge” force deployed to Iraq last year, around 8,000 will remain in the country after July.
According to Lieutenant General Carter Ham, there will still be a requirement in Iraq for support troops when the supplementary combat units that arrived in the surge end their tour of duty. Those to stay in Iraq, he said, include helicopter aircrew and military police and, especially, troops to perform guard duty over those in Iraqi prisons.
"The transfer of responsibility for detention operations has not progressed as rapidly as we would like to the Iraqis, so there's a need to have that force sustained, as well", Ham detailed, in explanation of the last point.
The troop surge was ordered by US President George W. Bush in January last year.
Ham: 140,000 US Troops to Remain in Iraq after Withdrawals
Speaking to the media at the Pentagon yesterday, Ham said that, upon the departure from Iraq of the last units (US Marine and US Army) that were sent there in the surge, the number of US forces left will be 140,000 – 8,000 over the number there pre-surge.
"This will be very much conditions-based, but that's our projection as of today", he added.
The last departures he referred to are scheduled to take place in five months time. Presently, said Ham, the US military’s top commanders are discussing the prospect of additional troop pull-backs after this.
General David Patraeus is expected to release a report on the War in Iraq in two months.
To talk of a new round of withdrawals now, said Ham, would be “premature.”
Ham: Al-Qaeda Resistance Growing
Commenting on the general situation in the country almost five years since the US invaded, Ham stated: "I would say that there is increasing pressure on al-Qaeda in Iraq everywhere inside Iraq."
"Again, it is premature to declare victory or anything, but it is very clear that, wherever al Qaeda in Iraq tries to operate, they are increasingly being resisted by Iraqi security forces, clearly by the U.S. and other coalition members, and most importantly by the people of Iraq -- and that's really what's making the difference."
Source – Armed Forces International’s US Correspondent
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