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Slowdown in Iraq troop cuts possible as top brass meet
The hourlong videoconference marked the start of what will be a series of meetings, presentations and congressional testimony over the next two weeks that will assess the military, political and economic progress in Iraq.
During the Pentagon meeting, Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, heard from the top commander in the Middle East, Adm. William Fallon, and the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus.
Officials said little about the discussions, but there was no indication that Petraeus had backed off his call for a brief pause in troop cuts after July in order to see what effect the lower force levels have on violence in Iraq.
There are 158,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and that number is expected to drop to about 140,000 by the end of July, when the troop buildup ends. The lower figure is 8,000 more than the number of troops in Iraq in January 2007, when President Bush ordered five brigades to Baghdad in order to quell violence.
Yesterday in Iraq, three policemen were killed in a roadside bombing and a shooting in Mosul, which the U.S. military describes as al Qaeda's last urban stronghold in Iraq. Another police officer was reported killed in the southern city of Kut.
And the U.S. military said troops killed seven suspected insurgents trying to plant a roadside bomb north of Baghdad the day before. Iraqi police in Samarra said the dead were civilians trying to repair their car along the roadside.
Back in Washington, House Democrats yesterday demanded by April 4 White House documents involving a loophole the administration slipped into a bill designed to police overseas contracts. The United States has spent more than $102 billion to help rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, with $14 million going for bribes. *
