flashback from 11/06: Iraq PM: ‘Our forces will be ready by June ’07’

[maddezmom]

Iraq PM: ‘Our forces will be ready by June ’07’
Al-Maliki, Bush agree to speed up security handover, dismiss partition idea


President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki arrive at a joint press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on Thursday. Bush called the embattled Iraqi leader as the "right guy" for the job.

MSNBC News Services
Updated: 8:23 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2006
AMMAN, Jordan - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Thursday that his country's forces would be able to assume security command by June 2007 — which could allow the United States to start withdrawing its troops.

"I cannot answer on behalf of the U.S. administration but I can tell you that from our side our forces will be ready by June 2007," Maliki told ABC television after meeting President Bush on Thursday in Jordan.

Maliki was replying to a question about whether U.S. troops could start withdrawing at that time.

more:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15946832/

and from today's WaPo:

Military Envisions Longer Stay in Iraq
Officers Anticipate Small 'Post-Occupation' Force

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 10, 2007; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- U.S. military officials here are increasingly envisioning a "post-occupation" troop presence in Iraq that neither maintains current levels nor leads to a complete pullout, but aims for a smaller, longer-term force that would remain in the country for years.

This goal, drawn from recent interviews with more than 20 U.S. military officers and other officials here, including senior commanders, strategists and analysts, remains in the early planning stages. It is based on officials' assessment that a sharp drawdown of troops is likely to begin by the middle of next year, with roughly two-thirds of the current force of 150,000 moving out by late 2008 or early 2009. The questions officials are grappling with are not whether the U.S. presence will be cut, but how quickly, to what level and to what purpose.

One of the guiding principles, according to two officials here, is that the United States should leave Iraq more intelligently than it entered. Military officials, many of whom would be interviewed only on the condition of anonymity, say they are now assessing conditions more realistically, rejecting the "steady progress" mantra of their predecessors and recognizing that short-term political reconciliation in Iraq is unlikely. A reduction of troops, some officials argue, would demonstrate to anti-American factions that the occupation will not last forever while reassuring Iraqi allies that the United States does not intend to abandon the country.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/09/AR2007060901464.html?hpid=topnews

[maddezmom]

1. US general paints candid picture of Iraq army, police

BAGHDAD, June 10 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces should be in a position to take control of 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces by year's end, although they will not be ready to fight on their own for some time, a top U.S. general said on Sunday.

Giving a candid assessment of their capabilities, Lieutenant-General Martin Dempsey, in charge of U.S.-led efforts to reconstruct Iraq's security forces over the past 22 months, also said there was a critical shortage of good senior officers.

Creating a new police force and army, disbanded after the U.S.-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003, is a prerequisite for a U.S. withdrawal. U.S. soldiers though have voiced frustration at what they see as slow progress.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/COL047296.htm