IRAQI DEFENSE MINISTER WANTS MORE U.S. TROOPS

Just a couple of weeks ago President Bush and the Pentagon were saying they were going to drawdown the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

However, the Iraqi Defense Minister wants more troops in Iraq and U.S. military people are saying the "surge" could end in July with more troops in Iraq than when it started.

Once again the troops and the American people are being given double-speak on the troop withdrawals from Iraq.

What is even more disquieting is the Iraqi Defense Minister is calling the shots on how many U.S. troops stay in Iraq.

Perhaps before President Bush leaves office next January he can just ONCE tell the American people the truth about Iraq.

It would be refreshing.

Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE, http://corksphere.blogspot.com/, the blog that tells the TRUTH about what is happening with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iraq defence minister says in need of US troops
Senior Pentagon official says US 'surge' likely to end with more troops in Iraq than before.

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=24366

DUBAI - Iraq's defence minister said on Saturday that his country needs US troops to protect its borders and also for "strategic deterrence."

"We need US troops... for the defence of the borders... I don't have anything I can use for strategic deterrence. I do not have intercepting aircraft," Abdel Qader Jassim al-Obaidi said on the sidelines of a conference in the United Arab Emirates.

"My need for them (US troops) is pressing in this regard," al-Obaidi said.

But the Iraqi official, who was in Dubai to attend a conference on Iraqi defence and security, said that Iraqi troops always replace US forces when the security situation improves and the latter withdraw from a certain area.

"Whenever the security situation seriously improves we replace them. We have a plan for this year but I cannot disclose the timetable," he said.

"Anyway, the Americans themselves are not willing to abandon Iraq unless they are confident that we are capable. This is an agreement," al-Obaidi added.

A senior Pentagon official said earlier this week that the US "surge" is likely to end in July with more troops in Iraq than the 132,000 who were there before five extra combat brigades were sent in more than a year ago.

Lieutenant General Carter Ham said that support forces and trainers who went in with the surge will still be needed to back up Iraq's expanding security forces after the last of the extra combat brigades leaves.

"It's likely that the number will be a little bit larger than the 132,000 or so that was the number of personnel on the ground pre-surge," said Ham, the operations director of the Joint Staff.
Currently there are about 158,000 US troops in Iraq, down from a high of about 170,000 at the height of the surge.