U.S. general: Pullout a 'step backward'
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A U.S. commander in Iraq believes it would not be possible to withdraw troops from his region south and east of Baghdad by year's end. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said a pullout would be a "giant step backward."
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BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that it "probably does make sense" to "pause" troop withdrawals from Iraq late this summer, after the last of the forces sent in as part of an offensive surge have gone home.
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FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- When Lieutenant General David Petraeus was reassigned last year from a top command in Iraq to this sprawling Army complex in the heartland where new leaders are trained, many in the military saw it as a move to sideline a potential critic from Pentagon decision-making.
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Gen. David Petraeus said Monday he has recommended to President Bush that the drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq begin this month with the departure of a California-based Marine unit.
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The top American general in Iraq said   on Wednesday he foresaw Iraqi forces assuming control of the   country's security within 12 to 18 months with "very little"   support from U.S.-led forces.
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It could be next spring before U.S. troops in Iraq can hand over areas gained in their latest offensive to Iraqi forces and start to draw down, a top American commander said on Friday.
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The Pentagon's closely guarded review of how to improve the situation in Iraq has outlined three basic options: Send in more troops, shrink the force but stay longer, or pull out, according to senior defense officials.
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In the weeks prior to President Bush's proclamation that 70,000 U.S. troops would pull out of bases in places such as Germany and South Korea, American officials were quietly negotiating where to put new posts ...
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Washington - The senior US marine commander in Iraq said on Thursday that the US-led offensive in Fallujah has &quot;broken the back of the insurgency&quot; by seizing their main base of operations.
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President Bush says the U.S. military will pull out of Iraq "as quickly as possible," but he is not endorsing Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that troops could begin returning home this year.
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Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, said yesterday he hopes to shorten the 15-month tours in Iraq and Afghanistan this summer. The move would end a policy, required by the buildup of nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in Iraq last year, that has placed significant stress on soldiers and...
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New calls from lawmakers to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq may trouble the White House but are not too out of step with scenarios envisioned by war commanders.
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Defense secretary endorses the idea of pausing the drawdown of U.S. forces from Iraq this summer.
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The United States should be able to withdraw five combat brigades from Iraq by mid-2008 because troops have held onto security gains made this year, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday.
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Ryan C. Crocker laid out a grim forecast of what could happen if American forces were pulled back or even withdrawn from Iraq.
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If the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq is reversed before the summer of 2008, the military will risk giving up the security gains it has achieved at a cost of hundreds of American lives over the past six months, the commander of U.S. forces south of Baghdad said Friday.
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President to cut numbers to pre-surge level after Petraeus admits end is not in sight.