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WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 20, 2008) - Setting a timeline for U.S.
troop withdrawals from Iraq would be "dangerous," and troop
reductions there should continue to be made based on security
conditions on the ground, the nation's top military officer said
today.
President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki this
week agreed to set a general "time horizon" for bringing more U.S.
troops home from the war, Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said in an
interview on "Fox News Sunday," but he added that to his knowledge,
the agreement does not include specific dates. "I think the
consequences could be very dangerous in that regard," he said.
The admiral stressed his view that troop-strength decisions must
be conditions-based, but said he wants to see more U.S. forces come
home. "I think the strategic goals of having timed horizons are
ones that we all seek," he said, "because eventually we would like
to see U.S. forces draw down and eventually all come home," he
said.
Though he said he worries that a "rapid" movement of U.S. forces
out of Iraq could create instability, Mullen said he found during a
trip there two weeks ago that security conditions were better than
he expected they would be, and that could mean more troops can come
home if the trend continues.
"If conditions continue to improve, I would look to be able to
make recommendations to President Bush in the fall to continue
those reductions," Mullen said.
With the return home this month of the last "surge" brigade,
commanders will spend the next several weeks assessing post-surge
conditions in Iraq, including political and economic progress,
before making their recommendations concerning future troop
levels.
"We're engaged very much right now with the Iraqi people,"
Mullen said. "The Iraqi leadership is starting to generate the kind
of political progress that we need to make, [and] the economy is
starting to move in the right direction."
The admiral said he doesn't know if that means more troops could
be home by the end of this administration in January. Logistics and
other security details would factor into that, he explained.
"There is a physical challenge with respect to moving troops
around," he said. "You just can't do it overnight."
Asked about recent struggles in Afghanistan, Mullen said safe
havens across the border in Pakistan are allowing extremist groups
free movement into the region.
"[It] is big challenge for all of us, and it's having an impact
on our ability to move forward in Afghanistan," he said.
A "syndication" of various extremist and terrorist groups in the
region is creating a more intense internal threat, the chairman
said, and recent attacks have become more serious and
sophisticated, such as the attack last week on an outpost in which
nine U.S. Soldiers were killed. However, he said, commanders on the
ground say that forces are making progress and moving into villages
and territories previously out of reach.
Mullen acknowledged that progress has been mixed, but he said he
is "not concerned at all that we are losing at all in
Afghanistan."
Concerning Iran, Mullen said he is "encouraged" by talks between
Iran and the European Union yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, and
that the international community needs to continue its pressure on
Iran's nuclear weapons development program.
"I fundamentally believe that they are on a path to achieve
nuclear weapons in the future," he said. "I think that's a very
destabilizing possibility in that part of the world. We don't need
any more instability in that part of the world."
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