Rumsfeld won’t promise Iraq troop cut

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
said on Wednesday he could not promise that the United States
would withdraw some of its 133,000 troops from Iraq this year,
although he hoped it would be able to do so.

Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, said he did not believe U.S. troops could pull out of
any of Iraq’s provinces in the next three months and leave
security duties to U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces.

Rumsfeld and Pace, testifying before a Senate
appropriations subcommittee, faced questions from senators
about when the Pentagon planned to reduce the U.S. military
presence in Iraq more than 3 years into a war in which about
2,450 U.S. troops have died.

Rumsfeld said Iraq, in the grips of a relentless
insurgency, had “entered a hopeful new phase in what has been a
long and difficult journey,” with Shi’ite politician Nuri
al-Maliki, the prime minister-designate, due in the coming days
to unveil a new cabinet.

Democratic senators expressed doubt about progress in the
war.

“We still don’t have answers to the most basic questions
about the war,” said Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. “How
much more is this war going to cost? When is this mission
really going to be accomplished? How much longer until our
troops start coming home?”

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, asked Rumsfeld
whether there will be “a significant troop withdrawal this
year.”

“We ought to be able to make a reduction,” Rumsfeld said,
depending on progress in developing Iraqi security forces and
public support among Iraqis for a new unity government.

After again being pressed on troop reductions by Illinois
Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin, Rumsfeld said, “I did not say
it will not happen this year. I said I hoped it happens this
year, but I can’t promise it.”

Questions about troop levels come during a congressional
election year in which the U.S. public’s support for the war is
dropping. Public concern over Iraq has also helped push
President George W. Bush’s approval rating to the lowest of his
presidency.

RECOMMENDATION PENDING

The Pentagon has said Rumsfeld expects to receive by the
end of spring a recommendation from Gen. George Casey, his top
commander in Iraq, on possible troop cuts this year.

The Pentagon this month put off next month’s scheduled
deployment of a Germany-based Army brigade to Iraq pending
Casey’s recommendation. Casey said last month he was “still on
my general timetable” for recommending cuts, but did not say
how many troops or when.

Pace said Iraqi security forces number 254,000 people, with
a goal of 325,000. Rumsfeld said, “They’re making excellent
progress.”

But Leahy asked Pace if there was any significant section
of Iraq that the Iraqis can control on their own without U.S.
involvement.

Pace responded that 14 of the 18 provinces are essentially
calm. Leahy then asked whether U.S. forces could withdraw
completely from any of those 14 in the next three months.

“No, sir,” Pace said.

“There are still the logistics and command and control
parts of their army that need to be built for them to be able
to sustain themselves completely,” Pace said.

On another topic, Rumsfeld said he foresaw no circumstances
under which he would recommend reinstating the draft after more
than three decades of an all-volunteer U.S. military.

After Rumsfeld completed his opening statement to the
panel, a protester in the hearing room yelled out, “Liar,” and
flashed the two-finger peace sign while being led out by
security.