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Trained Iraqi troops now out-number US forces
President Bush said on Tuesday trained Iraqi security forces now outnumber U.S. troops in Iraq and are playing a greater role in fighting insurgents.Bush's comment followed remarks by senior military officers that U.S. forces could begin to be drawn down in significant numbers early next year if violence remains low at that time. He spoke to a cheering crowd of about 25,000 people, including troops of the 1st Calvary Division, many of them just back from Iraq and many headed back there in the fall. He said security operations in Iraq are "entering a new phase" in which the United States and its coalition partners are increasingly playing more of a supporting role and Iraqi security forces are more self-reliant and taking on greater responsibilities. "Like free people everywhere, Iraqis want to be defended and led by their own countrymen," Bush said. "We will help them achieve this objective so Iraqis can secure their own nation and then our troops will come home with the honor they have earned." Bush offered no timetable on a withdrawal. He said about 150,000 Iraqi military and police and other security personnel had now been trained, outnumbering the estimated 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. "There's a lot of hard work ahead," he said. "The Iraqi people face brutal and determined enemies. But Iraqis are also determined and they have the will to defeat the insurgency." Bush, who has criticized Iraqi forces in the past for running from battle, said at Fort Hood that they have courage and resolve and are fighting bravely. He also spoke optimistically about the fledging democracy in Iraq, with the recent formation of a transitional government that is to lead in drafting a new constitution and set the stage for elections for a permanent government by year's end. "As the Iraq democracy succeeds, that success is sending a message from Beirut to Tehran that freedom can be the future of every nation," Bush said. And he said the war on terrorism was being won. "In the last two years, you have accomplished much, yet your work isn't over. Freedom still faces dangerous adversaries. Terrorists still want to attack our people. But they're losing," he said. The number of U.S.-trained Iraqi troops has been a controversial issue, with some congressional Democrats accusing the Bush administration of greatly inflating the number and overstating their capabilities. In April 2004, the Pentagon said the United States had trained and fielded more than 200,000 Iraqi security forces. But Pentagon officials said last fall they had changed the way they calculated that number and greatly reduced how many it said were trained and equipped. Bush came to Fort Hood, a short helicopter ride from his Crawford, Texas, ranch, to mark the second anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein, a war fought over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. After his speech, Bush went to the 1st Calvary Division mess hall and ate fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and collard greens. Before flying back to Washington, he visited privately for more than three hours with 33 families of soldiers killed in the Iraq campaign. The exchanges were often emotional and some of the families expressed concerns directly to the president about the level of government assistance they were receiving, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "We did make some notes of the concerns that they expressed and we will be following up on those," he said. Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-04-13 |
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