U.S. is years from reduction in Iraq force, general says

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/america...322504,00.html

U.S. is years from reduction in Iraq force, general says
By James O'Shea, The Chicago Tribune
October 5, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. general who heads coalition forces in Iraq says it will be years before the United States is able to "draw down" its forces here, and he warned Americans to brace for more casualties, including a "significant engagement where tens of American soldiers or coalition soldiers" are killed.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said coalition forces are winning the war despite the daily drumbeat of news reports that suggest the military is encountering more trouble than its commanders had anticipated.



He said he is "very comfortable" with the current force structure and size, which includes 140,000 soldiers, all but a few thousand of whom are American, and he said for the first time publicly that the coalition force level won't be reduced anytime soon.

"I see us being here awhile yet," said Sanchez.

"The political processes have to take their natural course until we have a representative government in place, and that's going to take some time. And even after that occurs, given the pace at which the Iraqi army (is) standing up, it's going to be awhile after that because the army being formed will not be sufficient for the defense of the country.

"So it's going to be a few years before we can draw down as the security situation here stabilizes, as you can build additional coalition capacity to allow the U.S. to draw down some of its forces over time."

Sanchez went further than any other Pentagon official has been willing to venture when assessing how long the current level of U.S. forces in Iraq will be maintained.

In testimony to Congress last month, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said "significant forces" from the United States probably would stay in Iraq until the end of next year, far short of Sanchez's prediction.

Sanchez said the Army and coalition have made great progress on what he called the new front in the global war against terrorism.

"We've built police capacity very quickly. The schools have (been reopened). The justice system should soon be in operation, and the medical system is working. Do we have the American standard of care and sanitation? Well, no, we're not quite there yet. But it's providing services for the people. So you look across the board and you ask yourself, are we winning this war? Absolutely."

But the general also acknowledged that his soldiers are under a constant threat from a determined enemy he placed in four groups.

"The first fundamental threat is the plain criminal, and there are plenty of those guys who were released by Saddam, some pretty hard-core (criminals) who are still creating problems for the people.

"We then have foreign fighters that we believe are flowing in here. There are a small number of them coming in from Yemen, from Syria, Saudi Arabia and Spain.

"Then there are also some former regime loyalists who are very hard-core that are out there conducting attacks against the coalition.

"And then you have the terrorist - the plain terrorist."

Sanchez said the U.S. military probably could handle or eliminate most of the criminals, foreign fighters and former regime loyalist enemies through military force or through political reforms that would cause them to rejoin society and put down their weapons.

U.S. officials believe some of the former Saddam loyalists will give up the fight if Saddam is captured or killed.

"But there is a component that we are not going to be able to eliminate, and that is the terrorist," Sanchez said. "The terrorist will continue to be here and will continue to strike against us over time as long as we have Americans here. I think that is a fundamental - I'll call it a truth - which we have to accept."