US draws plan to cut troops in Iraq, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON—The US military has drawn up plans to cancel the deployment of two Army brigades to Iraq and one to Afghanistan next month in what could be the start of a reduction of U.S. forces in those countries, defense officials said on Thursday. But small groups from two brigades, which each include about 3,500 troops and hundreds of supporting soldiers, could be sent to help train Iraqi security forces, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified.
There are currently about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are under mounting pressure from some members of Congress to begin reducing that force amid waning public support for the war. Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday that the United States planned to reduce its force in Iraq, recently bolstered to help protect elections there on December 15, back down to the normal level of about 137,000 next year, but that going lower than that would be based on the security situation.
“I think that as we’ve said all along it’s condition-based. And the reality is that the Iraqi security forces are improving in capability and experience every day, every week, every month,” Rumsfeld said after meeting with members of Congress. “We’ve plussed-up (added) considerably from 137,000 ... up to about 160,000 to be helpful during the election period,” he said.—Agencies