ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - The U.S. will carry out planned withdrawals of American troops in Iraq only from regions where Iraqi forces can maintain security against the insurgents, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said Thursday.
Gen. Peter Pace said the current force of 160,000 would drop to below 138,000 by March, then U.S. commanders on the ground would work with the Iraqi government to determine the pace of future pullbacks in areas that have been secured by local security forces.
"The bottom line will be that the Iraqi army and the Iraqi police will gain in competence, that they will be able to take on more and more of the territory, whether or not there are still insurgents in that area," he said in an interview with a small group of reporters, including The Associated Press, aboard a military plane en route to the United Arab Emirates.
Of course, the media is spinning this as a reaction to "pressure" for withdrawal from the left:
Amid congressional pressure and growing public opposition to the war, the Bush administration last week announced plans to reduce U.S. combat troops in Iraq to below the 138,000 level that prevailed most of this year.
Back in June of this year President Bush told America "As Iraqis stand up we will stand down." This plan for phased withdrawal from Iraq conditioned to the readiness of Iraqi security forces in various parts of that country is exactly what the President has been telling us would be done. Leftist political and media pressure for troop pullout has nothing to do with it. This is the plan, it has always been the plan, and it is being executed.
If anything we should all be happy that the President didn't listen to Howard "We're Losing" Dean, John "Cut And Run" Murtha and the rest of the defeatist Democrats, otherwise we wouldn't be finding ourselves on the cusp of victory right now.