Saturday, August 25, 2007

Report: Pentagon, Petraeus at odds over speed, depth of troop drawdown

Above: Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division lead Iraqi soldiers to their next objective in Arab Jabour two weeks ago.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 — As the Bush administration mulls options for withdrawing forces in Iraq, fault lines are beginning to emerge in a debate between commanders in the field who favor slow reductions and senior generals at the Pentagon who favor cutting the number of combat troops more deeply.

Among others, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, are said to be leaning toward a recommendation that steep reductions by the end of 2008, perhaps to half of the 20 combat brigades now in Iraq, should be the administration’s goal.

Such a drawdown would be deeper and faster than Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, is expected to recommend next month, administration officials said...

A Pentagon official who supports a sharp drawdown described the steep troop reductions as “what we’re shooting for, our initial goal”...

But the assessment that General Petraeus is preparing to deliver next month is likely to call for at most modest reductions in troop levels by next spring. At that point the five more brigades added this year under the president’s troop increase are likely to be withdrawn gradually.

Read the rest at the NY Times

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