WASHINGTON - A top U.S. general in Iraq said Tuesday that reductions in American troops there could be possible by early next year despite the recent spasm of violence, but he said he was not ready yet to recommend any significant reductions.
Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the No. 2 U.S. officer in Iraq, said creation of democratic institutions in Iraq could accomplish what American troops and Iraqi security personnel have been unable to achieve: the defeat of the insurgency.
If the new Iraqi government drafts a constitution that gains wide acceptance, "My assessment is the insurgency could dwindle down very quickly," Vines told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Iraq.
During an ebb in violence earlier this spring, several top generals expressed confidence that the U.S. presence in Iraq could begin declining by March 2006, either through withdrawal of units or by sending fewer troops to replace those who are rotating home.
Violence has increased again. Still, Vines suggested a drawdown of four or five brigades - less than a quarter of the U.S. presence of 135,000 personnel - was possible if Iraqi elections later this year are successful and Iraq's security forces continue to grow in ability and size.
In recent weeks, members of Congress, including some Republicans, have been introducing resolutions urging President Bush to formulate plans to begin taking U.S. troops out of Iraq.
Vines said he would oppose announcing any timeline for doing so because it would be based on arbitrary dates, not an assessment of the success of the U.S. mission. Other generals have also opposed such a move.
The general said the insurgency has become static in size and capability, despite operations to combat it, frequent reports of mass arrests and the disposal of weapons caches. Attacks across Iraq have returned to between 50 and 60 a day, roughly the same level as much of last year, officials say.
"We don't see the insurgency contracting or expanding right now," Vines said.
Official: U.S. hindering Hussein case
BRUSSELS - Iraq's justice minister accused the United States on Tuesday of trying to hinder the Iraqi investigation of Saddam Hussein by limiting his access to interrogators, and said "it seems there are lots of secrets they want to hide."
Justice Minister Abdel Hussein Shandal also told the Associated Press he was confident investigators would wrap up the case against Hussein by the end of the year, underlining the Iraqi government's determination to try the ousted leader soon - though Shandal acknowledged he has no say in the timing of the trial.
In response, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said, "The United States views the trials of Iraqi officials as a process that is under the authority of the Iraqi government, and will proceed according to decisions that the Iraqi government and the Iraqi Special Tribunal make.
"That's what's going to determine the pace and timing of this process, not the United States government," Ereli said in Washington.
