Wednesday, Jul 09, 2003
After spearheading the American ground offensive in Iraq, fighting its way to Saddam Hussein's palaces inBaghdad and seizing control of large swathes of the vast Iraqi capital in the aftermath of the conflict, the USarmy's Third Infantry Division is heading home.
The division's pull-out, already under way and due to be completed by September, had been initially expected to take place last month. But daily attacks on US troops and infrastructure persuaded US military commanders to keep one ofAmerica's star combat units in the country for a longer period, raising concerns in Congress that the Bushadministration had not adequately planned for the relief of war-weary soldiers.
Violence has killed at least 29 US troops since President George W. Bush declared major combat operations over on May1.
News of the return of the 3rd ID to its bases in the US state of Georgia - which emerged on Wednesday - was expected to allay some of those fears.
In testimony before the Senate armed services committee, Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, said the division'sthird brigade had already reached Kuwait and would be back in the US this month.
The second brigade would return in August and the first brigade would make the journey back in September. He saideach of the final two brigades to leave Iraq would have been in the Gulf region for 10 months by the time theydeparted.
But it was not immediately clear how the 3rd ID would be replaced. The US believes the current military presence inIraq - which involves some 145,000 US soldiers and around 19,000 coalition troops - is to be expected for the"foreseeable future", as senior military officials have said.
However, it is pushing key allies around the world - including some such as France that opposed the war - to send in large numbers of peacekeeping forces to reduce the imbalance between the US and international military commitments topostwar Iraq. The occupation is costing America about $3.9bn a month.
Mr Rumsfeld, who was celebrating his 71st birthday on Wednesday, said he expected the number of non-US troops in Iraqto rise to 30,000 by "late summer, early fall", with 19 countries having made commitments.
James Politi in Washington
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