Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the scheduled withdrawal will reduce the number of troops at the height of the surge by one quarter, or roughly 42,500. Further reductions after July will be based on the state of Iraq’s security, he added.
“The guidance that (Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates) in fact has given me -- and the president and my chain of command, what all of them have said -- is that reductions after July should be conditions-based,”Their focus, he said, will be on removing forces expeditiously, but without undercutting progress made during the troop surge that launched this time last year. Petraeus today noted that half of Iraq’s 18 provinces currently are under provincial control.
[i.e., we are already withdrawing from Iraq - as success allows]
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48777
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