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New US commander in Iraq envisions big troop cuts

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-13 13:24

WASHINGTON -- Soon-to-be top US commander in Iraq Raymond T. Odierno said he hoped to recommend significant reductions in the number of US troops there over the next year, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Related readings:  US may cut troop levels in Iraq this fall  Petraeus says by fall he may seek Iraq troop cuts

However, he also told the newspaper that Iraq's political developments, like the recent delay in scheduling regional elections, would influence the troop reductions as much as the level of attacks.

Odierno, currently preparing for his third tour in Iraq since the invasion of 2003, said his priorities as top US military leader in Iraq would include continuing to suppress violence by terrorists who claim allegiance to Al Qaida, and preventing hardline Shiite militias from setting up a parallel system of civil services to rival the central government in Baghdad.

He said another main task would be to bring into government service the thousands of Sunni fighters who joined pro-government militias in a program widely credited with successes against terrorists, especially in Anbar Province in western Iraq.

Next month, Odierno will succeed David H. Petraeus, current top US commander in Iraq.

Petraeus, during the last days before leaving Iraq to become commander of the Central Command, is to give the White House and the Pentagon his advice on a next round of troop reductions in Iraq.