General Outlines Plan for Troop Cuts in Iraq

Posted on Jun 25, 2006

By Crooks and Liars’ calculation, it’s a reduction of around 28,000 by next year. The hypocrisy: After spending the entire last week savaging Rep. John Murtha’s proposal for a pullout, it now appears that the Bush administration is preparing to “cut and run.”

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N.Y. Times:

WASHINGTON, June 24 — The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

According to a classified briefing at the Pentagon this week by the commander, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the number of American combat brigades in Iraq is projected to decrease to 5 or 6 from the current level of 14 by December 2007.

Under the plan, the first reductions would involve two combat brigades that would rotate out of Iraq in September without being replaced. Military officials do not typically characterize reductions by total troop numbers, but rather by brigades. Combat brigades, which generally have about 3,500 troops, do not make up the bulk of the 127,000-member American force in Iraq, and other kinds of units would not be pulled out as quickly.

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