ARAB-US RELATIONS - Aug 6 - US General Offers Way To Cut Forces In Iraq.

In a classified briefing to senior Pentagon officials last month, the top US commander in the Middle East General John Abizaid, outlines a plan that will gradually reduce US forces in Iraq by perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 troops next spring, three senior military officers and US Defense Department officials said. The assessment offered, tracks with a statement made last week by the top US general in Iraq, George Casey Jr., that the Pentagon could make "some fairly substantial reductions" in troops by next spring and summer if the political process in Iraq remained on track and if Iraqi forces assumed more responsibility for securing their country. Together, the generals' appraisals provide some of the most concrete indications yet that the Pentagon is moving toward reducing US forces in Iraq. They also reflect the Bush administration's growing concerns over how the country's involvement in Iraq is influencing domestic considerations. But in Abizaid's assessment, given as part of a larger regional analysis, he also warned that it was possible that the Pentagon might have to keep the current number of US troops in Iraq, about 138,000, throughout 2006 if security and political trends were unfavorable for a withdrawal. The number of troops will temporarily increase this December to provide security for elections in Iraq. And some troops leaving Iraq could be stationed in Kuwait as a reserve force. Senior administration and Pentagon officials, as well as political leaders in both parties, say there is mounting anxiety over the $5 bn-a-month cost of the war, an overextended military, dismal recruiting in the US Army and National Guard, dwindling public support for the operation, and a steadily growing number of casualties, punctuated this week by the deaths of 20 marines in two separate attacks in western Iraq. "When you wake up in the morning and lose 14 marines, people say, 'What's going on"?' said the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, referring to an attack on Aug 3, when an armored troop carrier hit three stacked mines. "This is a very complicated equation". Gingrich said military casualties in Iraq could play a prominent role in the US congressional election this fall. Pres Bush and the US defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, have insisted that US troops will remain in Iraq as long as necessary and that there is no set timetable for withdrawal.