WASHINGTON — The recent explosion of violence in Iraq is forcing a debate inside the Pentagon about whether the U.S. military can proceed with plans to cut the number of troops in Iraq, Defense officials said Monday.
The violence came at a crucial time for the U.S. military: Top generals must decide within weeks whether to carry out a long-anticipated reduction in American troops this summer. Threats of civil war in the country have raised questions about the wisdom of a troop drawdown in the next few months.
"One perspective certainly is that with so much turmoil, how can you possibly think about drawing down at this point?" said a senior Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
For nearly a year, senior commanders have said that political progress in Baghdad and the development of new Iraqi army units could lead to a substantial U.S. troop reduction this year. They have pointed to mid-2006 as a pivotal period, making the decisions on troop levels a telling indicator of progress.
Defense officials said that Army Gens. John P. Abizaid and George W. Casey, the top commanders of U.S. forces in Iraq, soon would travel to Washington to advise President Bush on future troop levels. Because the moves under consideration will be critical to overall U.S. progress in Iraq this year, officials said Abizaid and Casey would brief the president in person.
"The president wants to hear it directly from the commanders, so he can get the straight scoop," the senior Defense official said.
The immediate question is whether the White House should cancel the expected deployments of a handful of combat units, a decision that would mean a midsummer reduction in the overall U.S. military presence in Iraq by thousands of troops.
Commanders must decide on force levels several months in advance of actual deployments, because of the time needed to ship military equipment and enable troops to prepare for an extended combat tour.
Defense officials said they were still optimistic that reductions could take place. One positive development they cited from the past week's violence was that Iraqi army units had been largely successful in keeping the ethnic strife from escalating into a full-blown civil war.
Both Abizaid and Casey have argued in the past that a U.S. troop reduction would help reduce the Iraqis' dependency on American forces. Delaying a U.S. withdrawal, some argue, might prevent Iraqi units from taking charge of security throughout the country.
