Baghdad, Iraq – Success in forming a new Iraqi government may let some U.S. troops leave the war zone within months, the top American military commander in Iraq said Wednesday.
Paying a surprise visit, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld embraced the country’s fledgling leaders as independent and focused on the future.
“I came away most encouraged,” Rumsfeld said after he and Rice spent a day meeting with Iraqi politicians and U.S. military and diplomatic advisers in the capital city.
Rice called the priorities and commitment of Iraq’s new prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, “refreshing and really heartening.”
The double-barreled show of support for Iraq’s first permanent democratic government was meant to resonate in Iraq and among Americans, whose frustration with the war effort has helped drive President Bush’s poll numbers to new lows.
A four-month political stalemate had sapped support for U.S. involvement in Iraq. The administration remains under election- year pressure from the public and many in Congress to draw down its forces there.
“There is no question but that as the new government is formed and the ministers are in place, that it’s appropriate for us to begin discussions with the new government about the conditions on the ground and the pace at which we’ll be able to turn over responsibility in the provinces,” Rumsfeld said.
Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military commander, said selection of government leaders marked a major step toward creating conditions that could allow a partial withdrawal.
“I’m still on my general timeline” for a possible withdrawal, he told reporters after meeting with Rumsfeld.
Casey used no figures. There are about 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and military officials have spoken before of their hopes of reducing that number below 100,000 by the end of the year if the insurgency does not grow worse and if Iraq makes continued progress on political and security fronts.
