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thedrifter
12-14-06, 10:42 AM
December 14, 2006
Top general in Iraq offers redeployment plan

By Tom Vanden Brook

One of the proposals developed by top U.S. commanders in Iraq would significantly redeploy troops from a combat role to training and advising Iraqi forces, according to four administration officials.

The proposal, requested by Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, calls for changing the mission during the next several months, the officials said.

All four requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the proposal.

This is “one of many plans” President Bush is considering as he weighs a new strategy for the war, said one of the officials, who works at the White House.

Bush was briefed Tuesday by Casey and Casey’s boss, Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid. Bush, who still must approve the proposal, met at the Pentagon on Wednesday with other top commanders.

Details of the redeployment proposal were provided by one official, and its general outline was confirmed by three others. Highlights include:

• Change the mission for an undetermined number of the 15 U.S. brigade combat teams currently in Iraq by March 2007. Troops in those brigades, which number about 3,000 each, would embed with Iraqi units. The plan would dramatically increase the size of those teams from the current 12 troops per Iraqi unit.

• Redeploy the remaining combat brigades as quick-reaction forces to fight insurgents, perform border security and secure lines of communication.

• Dramatically reduce the number of U.S. operating bases. Now there are 50.

The plan depends on conditions in Iraq, including the Iraqi army’s ability to run combat operations.

Some of the plan’s elements resemble those proposed last week by the Iraq Study Group. The group’s recommendations included removing U.S. combat forces by early 2008; remaining troops would be embedded with Iraqi forces in a training role or serve in rapid-response teams.

Flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney, incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates and outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Bush said Wednesday he would “not be rushed” into a new strategy for Iraq.

During consultations with military, political and Iraqi leaders, Bush said he heard interesting ideas and some “ideas that would lead to defeat. And I reject those ideas,” including leaving “before the job is done” and not helping the fledgling Iraqi government.

Worsening conditions in Iraq leave the Pentagon two defensible options, said Stephen Biddle, a military expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. It can either increase the number of U.S. forces to provide security and protect troops training the Iraqi army or withdraw troops immediately, he said.

Adding troops would be expensive, Biddle said. Turning combat troops into trainers could embolden insurgents, he said.

Also, the Pentagon doesn’t have enough special operations troops who specialize in training military forces in other countries, said Kalev Sepp, an assistant professor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

“We have to look for ways to accelerate the training of advisers,” said Sepp, a former Army Special Forces officer.

“What we’re looking at is a menu of bad choices,” Biddle said.

Ellie