Gates says 40,000 troops may be home by July

Washington Times:

The Pentagon expects that more than 40,000 U.S. troops will be home by July if the situation in Iraq remains stable, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.

Declining to cite exact troop numbers, Mr. Gates told reporters that five brigade combat teams are scheduled to be home by July. Defense officials said there are nearly 4,000 front-line troops for each plus about that number of support personnel, who are expected to redeploy as well.

"The situation on the ground, I think, makes it likely that General [David H.] Petraeus will be able to decide and bring out the first five [brigades] by July, as he indicated in September," Mr. Gates said, referring to the U.S. commander in Iraq. "We obviously want to sustain the gains that we have already made."

Gen. Petraeus' assessment of the mission in Iraq will be a determining factor in troop reduction, said Mr. Gates, who was joined by Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Defense Department estimates that the current 20 combat brigades could be reduced to 15 by next year, leaving roughly 130,000 troops in Iraq. Some redeployments are set to begin next week.

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The secretary also cautioned Congress that funding only half of what the president requested for the military could put at risk the progress made during the past year.

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The pernicious congressional action is an abuse of power. Congressional Democrats attempts to lose this war should be hung around their necks during the 2008 election. Their obstinacy in opposition to the winning strategy in Iraq should haunt them for a generation or more. By winning and bringing the troops home in victory we have denied the enemy the victory the Democrats would have given them and made the defeat of al Qaeda more likely everywhere. Al Qaeda has been discredited in Iran and throughout the Muslim world. If the Democrats would have had their way al Qaeda would be crowing about defeating the US right now and moving to spread their odious operations elsewhere.