Iraqi government contemplates troop cuts

If everything goes well, there could be 30,000 fewer troops than Petraeus has asked for by the time Bush is ready to leave office. Of course, this is the same Iraqi goverment that expected that it would have control of all of the provinces by November of this year. The Iraqi Government seems to hold unwarranted optimism in as high regard as Bush does.

story from Xinhua

Iraqi gov't expects cut of foreign troops to 100,000 by end 2008

An Iraqi national security advisor said Wednesday that the Iraqi government expected the number of foreign troops in the country to drop to 100,000 by the end of 2008 should its forces be ready and security situation be better.

"By the end of next year we expect the number of multinational troops could be less than 100,000," Muwafaq al-Rubaie told a news conference.

"This cut depends on the levels of the security threat that Iraq faces, whether inside or in the region, and the readiness of our security forces," Rubaie explained.

On Tuesday, Rubaie voiced the welcome of his government to the testimony made on Monday by the U.S. top commander in Iraq General David Petraeus to the U.S. Congress.

Petraeus has suggested in his testimony that the U.S. presence in Iraq should reach the pre-surge level by next July, which means a cut of about 30,000.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq also said that the U.S. force reduction would continue after next summer, but deemed that it would be premature to make recommendations now on the pace of such cuts.

Source: Xinhua