A top commander in Iraq on Friday rejected a proposal from Sen. John Warner to reverse the ongoing troop surge and start removing troops from Iraq this fall. “We would take a giant step backward,” Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands forces south and east of Baghdad to the Iranian border, told Pentagon reporters. “If soldiers were to leave …. having fought hard for that terrain, having denied the enemy their sanctuaries, what happens is, the enemy would come back.”
Warner, R-Va., ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stunned the White House on Thursday by urging President Bush to end the surge by bringing home troops in phrases, beginning with 5,000 of the 162,000 troops now in Iraq.
Recommended Stories
The president’s position is that troop numbers will rest on recommendations from Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, who reports to Congress the week of Sept. 10.
Warner, who is weighing whether to seek re-election next year, said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki needs to be sent a message by Washington because he has failed to meet goals for political reconciliation.
Lynch said, “I need the forces I have until I can transition to sustained security presence of the Iraqi security forces. And that’s going to take some time.”
The White House downplayed the senator’s new plan.
” I don’t think that Senator Warner’s position on Iraq has substantially changed,” said spokesman Gordon Johndroe. “I’m not aware of any sort of announcements of anyone changing their votes, of Senator Warner saying he’s going to change his vote regarding support for the mission in Iraq.”
Most lawmakers, including Republicans, want some type of troop withdrawal sooner rather than later. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he expects a shift to fewer troops this fall. Virtually all Republicans oppose a congressional mandated quick troop exodus, as pushed by Democratic leaders.
The Pentagon has committed to withdrawing the 30,000 surge troops next spring and fall without replacements, but any further reductions are undecided.
Lynch said that when his force began surge operations four months ago extremists operated from four sanctuaries. After losing 71 soldiers in fierce fighting, those safe havens are gone, the general said, but Iraqi soldiers are not yet ready to assume control.
“There’s still such a detailed, complicated fight going on that it’s no time between now and Christmas to move some coalition forces out,” Lynch said, adding he believes reductions can be made next spring.
Lynch said he is fighting three enemies: Sunni insurgents, Shiite extremists, and Iranian operatives who are bringing rockets and powerful roadside bombs into the area. He said Iran-provided bombs have killed eight of his soldiers since April.
