The US military is considering withdrawing troops from Iraq's volatile al-Anbar Province to reinforce the capital Baghdad, ABC television reported on Tuesday, citing Pentagon officials.
US forces deployed in the largely Sunni western province have faced fierce fighting and suffered high casualties in the area, where the al-Qaeda network has built up a strong presence.
The chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, "is considering turning al-Anbar over to Iraqi security forces and moving US troops from there into Baghdad," the US television network ABC reported on its Web site.
PHOTO: AFP
"If we are not going to do a better job doing what we are doing out [in al-Anbar], what's the point of having them out there?" a top military official was quoted as saying.
The Pentagon also was considering another option to increase the overall level of US troops in Iraq by two to five brigades, about 7,000 to 18,000 troops, ABC reported.
But raising the level of troops, which would only be sustainable for a temporary period of six to eight months, was opposed by top military officers overseeing US forces in Iraq, ABC reported.
A repositioning of forces in Iraq was more likely, the unnamed official said.
"There is a push for a change of footprint, not more combat power," the official told ABC.
A Pentagon spokeswomancould not confirm the report.
No decision on troops levels or redeployment would be taken for at least another two to three weeks to allow for a new defense secretary to take over, ABC said.
US President George W. Bush has named Robert Gates to replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and lawmakers are expected to take up his nomination soon.
The ABC account followed another media report quoting a bleak intelligence assessment of prospects for the mainly US Marine force in the western province.
According to the Washington Post, the intelligence report concluded that the US military could not defeat the insurgency in the province nor counter the popularity of al-Qaeda among the Sunni population.
Barring the deployment of an additional 15,000 to 20,000 US troops to the region, as well as billions of dollars in aid, "there is nothing" US troops "can do to influence" the insurgency, said the intelligence report, cited by the Post.
The five-page report was written by Colonel Peter Devlin, a senior military intelligence officer with the Marine Expeditionary Force in the region.
Three months later, the findings remain relevant, a senior intelligence officer told the paper.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was