Baghdad, Iraq – With the death of militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the U.S. will seek to press its advantage against al-Qaeda in Iraq, even as it will likely draw down U.S. forces in the months to come, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said Sunday.
Gen. George W. Casey’s comments on televised public-affairs shows underscored an inherent tension in the military’s position. The U.S. suddenly finds itself with a chance to build on its military blow against al-Qaeda in Iraq at the same time it could take advantage of the political stability offered by Iraq’s new government to reduce the U.S. presence.
“As long as the Iraqi security forces continue to progress, and as long as this national unity government continues to operate that way and move the country forward, I think we are going to be able to see … gradual reductions of coalition forces,” Casey told CBS’s “Face the Nation” in an interview from Baghdad.
For months, the Pentagon has suggested that Casey would be in a position this spring to recommend further cuts in the U.S. troop deployment, reductions that began last December when orders for two brigades were canceled. But the long wrang ling over who would become Iraq’s prime minister and who would fill the posts of defense and interior ministers, along with continued violence in Iraq, forced Casey and Pentagon officials to put off decisions about whether to hold back additional brigades.
With the top Iraqi jobs now filled, the White House will begin its long-awaited discussions on the way forward in Iraq at a meeting today of President Bush’s war cabinet at Camp David. This week’s meetings are likely to include talk about the size of the U.S. force.
The U.S. has about 130,000 troops in Iraq, down from a peak of 160,000 in December.
The death of al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, in a U.S. airstrike Wednesday threw a wrinkle into the plans of U.S. commanders, who see an opening to act on intelligence acquired in raids that followed the attack.
“We’re trying to take advantage of the opportunity that is presented here by leadership turbulence,” Casey said on CBS. “Any time you change a leader in an organization, it’s a period of turbulence. It’s especially critical in war.”
Al-Qaeda in Iraq on Sunday announced it is plotting more bloodshed. The insurgent organization’s governing council had met to discuss strategy, and the group said in an Internet statement: “We plan large-scale operations that will shake the enemy and rob them of sleep.”
Asked about the threat, Casey observed that in the past the organization tended to sharpen its rhetoric when it was “hurting.” Still, he acknowledged that the network was still capable of carrying out attacks and said U.S. forces were taking such threats seriously.
Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowaffak Rubaie, appearing on CNN’s “Late Edition,” predicted his country’s security forces would be strong enough by the end of the year to allow the multinational force to be cut to fewer than 100,000.
“And by the end of next year, most of the multinational forces will have gone home,” he said.
The most significant violence in Iraq on Sunday was between Shiite militiamen and British forces in the southern Iraqi city of Amarah, a fight that left at least five civilians dead. Elsewhere in Iraq, at least eight other people were killed in bombings and shootings.
