Rumsfeld: no decision yet on troop deployment
Iraq-USA, Military, 5/12/2006

The decision to delay deployment of one Army brigade from Germany to Iraq does not mean officials have decided to draw down troops in Iraq, Defense Secretary DonaldRumsfeld said Wednesday.

Concluding that putting an Army brigade's deployment to Iraq on hold makes a statement about Iraq's stability or a troop drawdown ahead is like "taking one tulip and deciding it's spring," the secretary said on a radio talk show.

It's premature to draw sweeping conclusions from the decision to keep the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany, until further notice, Rumsfeld told Brian Kilmeade and Andrew Napolitano on Fox News Radio's "Brian and the Judge Show."

The Pentagon announced the decision, which affects about 3,500 active-duty soldiers, May 8. "This is a very narrow decision to hold one brigade from deploying and to give the commanders on the ground additional time to continue their assessments," DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters the day of the announcement.

"What's happened is that (Army) General (George) Casey, (commander of Multinational Force Iraq), recommended and the president and I approved a delay in the movement of that particular unit into Iraq, at the request of General Casey," Rumsfeld said. "Now, might it go in later? Sure. Might it not? That's possible."

The United States has 133,000 troops in Iraq and a goal to reduce that number, Rumsfeld said. But "the fact that some unit may not be going in does not necessarily mean that the number of total troops will be going down," he said.

Rumsfeld noted that the US presence in Iraq extends beyond combat brigades. He pointed to a full range of combat support and combat service support troops, including those embedded with Iraqi security forces, providing infrastructure protection, advising ministries and carrying out other critical but non-combat roles.

It's too soon to tell how Prime Minister-Designate Jawad al-Maliki's appointment of a Cabinet committed to a unity government will affect the US military role in Iraq, the secretary said.

Once ministers are in place, Casey and US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad will begin discussions about issues that will affect decisions about US forces there, he said.

They'll talk about how quickly the United States can transfer responsibility to Iraqi security forces and how the Iraqi government can put together a budget to pay for this security. "And then we'll work out a comfortable arrangement between our two countries so that we can transfer responsibility over time as they're capable and as conditions on the ground permit to the Iraqis," Rumsfeld said.

Asked "Did you underestimate overall the amount of angst between the Shia and the Sunnis?  That’s seems to be what we’re witnessing right now - less foreign fighters, more Shia/Sunni." Rumsfeld said "It’s awfully hard to disaggregate what’s going on.  I think it still is a combination of foreign fighters and Ba’athists who want to take back the government.  I think it’s a mixture, as you point out, of sectarian violence and also criminals who are for hire by anybody almost.  It’s a country that’s violent, the violence is there. Was it underestimated by our intelligence people?  I suppose if someone had said can you find a piece of paper that proves that what has taken place was predicted with reasonable precision, I think probably not.  But I think that’s always been true throughout history. The enemy has a brain.  The enemy adapts and adjusts."

Previous Stories:
  Rumsfeld: Military presence depends on Iraq progress   (5/10/2006)
  US General Casey view on current situation in Iraq   (5/9/2006)
  On Sheik Abdel Kader mosque explosion in Iraq   (5/8/2006)
  US pressure for Iraqi government formation   (5/8/2006)
  US on north Iraq military operation   (5/6/2006)
  7 US soldiers killed in Iraq   (5/2/2006)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search