Petraeus: Substantial U.S. troop presence needed through mid-2009

Above: A soldier with the 1st Infantry Division pulls security during a search Baghdad's Mansour District last Thursday.

U.S. generals expect to need a large contingent of troops in Iraq until the middle of 2009, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Monday...

Asked about media reports that Washington envisioned a substantial American force remaining in Iraq through mid-2009, General David Petraeus told ABC News: "Sustainable security is, in fact, what we hope to achieve.

"It's in our campaign plan. We do think it will take about that amount of time, as you discussed, to establish the conditions for it"...

"The key is really how much force do you need? The campaign plan lays out the general concepts, the lines of operation and so forth and the actual plans and the actual force requirements are something that flow from that. And that's what General Odierno and I are working on now," Petraeus said.

Read the rest at Reuters

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