Freeze in Iraq troop levels is likely with Gates' support

BAGHDAD - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday for the first time that he supported a pause in U.S. troop reductions in Iraq. It was the most authoritative indication to date that the United States will maintain a large force here through 2008.

Gates' assertion, which was something of a surprise, immediately became an issue for Democratic presidential candidates, who have made American withdrawal from Iraq a major priority. Both Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama criticized Gates and reiterated their intention to bring all the troops home at a rapid pace if one of them wins the White House in November.

Meeting with top commanders in Baghdad, Gates said that following the departure this summer of the five extra combat brigades sent last year in a "surge" to pacify the Baghdad area, the U.S. command should assess whether further troop reductions would hurt security.

In practical terms, his assertion makes it likely that American troop levels in Iraq will not drop much below 130,000 this year - and certainly not to the 100,000 level advocated by some military officials and analysts worried about the protracted strain on the Army from long deployments.

"I think that the notion of a brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," Gates told reporters.

A delay in troop withdrawals shouldn't affect the Nebraska National Guard, a Guard spokesman said Monday.

The Nebraska Guard currently has about 200 soldiers in Iraq, said Lt. Col. Bob Vrana. Those soldiers, members of the 600th Transportation Company, are expected to return to the United States in April, he said. The return date is unchanged by Gates' support of a possible pause in withdrawals.

"We don't have any indication that this will have any impact at all," Vrana said.

While Gen. David Petraeus, the senior commander in Iraq, had hinted that he would recommend a freeze in troop levels, Gate's endorsement suggested a freeze was far more certain. President Bush has said he would place great emphasis on Petraeus' recommendations.

Within the Bush administration, Gates had been seen as a potential counterpoint to Petraeus' calls for caution about withdrawing troops. In recent months, Gates has said he hoped that by the end of 2008, American troop levels could be reduced to a level significantly smaller than the 130,000 or so that will be reached in July.

Petraeus' formal recommendations on post-surge troop levels will be delivered to Bush this spring. Bush repeatedly has said that he would do whatever is necessary to sustain gains in security made with the troop increase.

Gates met for two hours on Monday with Petraeus and Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, who will soon leave Iraq after 15 months as the No. 2 commander there.

After that meeting, Gates acknowledged that his assessment on whether to recommend that Bush put off additional troop withdrawals had been developing at the same time and along the same lines as that of the commanders'.

"I had been kind of headed in that direction, as well," he said.

But the defense secretary cautioned that significant questions are still to be decided, including "how long is that period" of a pause in troop cuts, and "what happens after that."

Gates stressed that the president still had made no decisions, and that Bush would receive separate assessments from Petraeus, from commanders responsible for the broader Middle East and from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who would evaluate the strain on the force and global threats.

This report includes information from World-Herald staff writer Matthew Hansen.