The U.S. Army expects to begin cutting troop levels in Iraq later this year, a move that would reduce the level of American forces there to below 138,000, an Army general said on Thursday.
“I think for the next force rotation, we’ll start seeing that (the) force rotation coming in will be smaller than the force that’s in there,” said Gen. Richard Cody, the Army’s vice chief of staff.
“I know you’re all waiting for a number here, and I’m not going to give you one because I don’t know,” Cody added in an interview with defense reporters.
The general said the next annual U.S. force rotation for Iraq would begin this summer and that the number of soldiers sent into the rotation later in the year is likely to be smaller than the number coming out.
Marines also expected to draw down force
Another defense official, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters on Thursday that the number of U.S. Marines in Iraq also was likely to decline in the new rotation.
There are 150,000 American troops in Iraq -- most of them Army soldiers -- but the number will go down to 138,000 before the end of this month. That will bring the force back to the level it was at before being bolstered by 12,000 in December to provide security for the Iraqi elections in January.
Cody’s comments represented the first attempt by the Pentagon to put a time frame on decreasing the U.S. force in Iraq.
U.S. defense officials previously have said the number will likely begin falling below 138,000 as the Iraqi army and security forces are trained to take over security in the country.
Berlusconi accused of backtracking
Cody’s comments came as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was accused in his country on Thursday of bowing to pressure from the United States after he apparently backtracked on an announcement that Italian troops would start withdrawing from Iraq in September.
Berlusconi said on a television talk show this week that he wanted to begin reducing Italy’s 3,000-strong contingent in September, but he later said he had never set a fixed date for any pullout.
Italy has the fourth-largest foreign contingent in Iraq after the U.S., British and South Korean forces and any eventual withdrawal before other main partners would leave a hole in Iraq’s international security network.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday he would not set any timetable for withdrawal of British troops.
