Washington – Army Gen. David Petraeus told Congress on Monday that the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Iraq has made enough progress that the additional combat forces can be pulled out by next summer, but he cautioned against “rushing to failure” with a larger, speedier withdrawal.
In what some called the most anticipated congressional testimony by a general since the Vietnam War, Petraeus presented an upbeat picture of improving security conditions in Iraq and offered a grim forecast of the “devastating consequences” of a more rapid pullout. Petraeus said his forces “have dealt significant blows” to al-Qaeda in Iraq but warned that Iran is now fighting a “proxy war” against Iraqi and U.S. forces.
The partial troop pullout Petraeus outlined in a joint appearance with Ambassador Ryan Crocker represents a modest acceleration of what military planners were privately forecasting but is the first drawdown the two men have publicly supported since becoming the top U.S. military and civilian officials in Baghdad.
President Bush, in a televised address this week, is likely to adopt the recommendation for this rollback, while war critics condemned it as too little, too late.
Either way, the general’s report and troop proposal opened a new phase in the fractious Washington debate over the future of the U.S. venture in Iraq nearly 4 1/2 years after Bush ordered an invasion. From this point on, the argument will no longer be about whether to withdraw U.S. troops but about how many to pull out and how quickly.
Petraeus’ plan would rotate about 2,000 Marines out of Anbar province in western Iraq this month without replacing them, then begin pulling out thousands of soldiers starting in December, for a total of 23,500 to 24,000 who will have left Iraq by July.
If logistics personnel and other supporting troops also are withdrawn, that would return force levels to the “pre-surge” number of 130,000 by mid-July.
Petraeus asked Congress to defer decisions on further reductions until March to get a better sense of the political and security situation.
“Like Ambassador Crocker, I believe Iraq’s problems will require a long-term effort,” Petraeus told the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees. “There are no easy answers or quick solutions. And although we both believe this effort can succeed, it will take time. … A premature drawdown of our forces would likely have devastating consequences.”
Countering claims that he tailored his testimony to White House demands, Petraeus insisted he penned his remarks. “It has not been cleared by, nor shared with, anyone in the Pentagon, the White House or the Congress,” he said.
Cox News Service contributed to this report.
