28 December 2006
Bush Receives Iraq Briefing, Cites "Good Progress" on New Plan
82nd Airborne brigade being deployed to forward operating base in Kuwait
Washington -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace traveled to Texas to brief President Bush on their recent trip to Iraq, and Bush said he will continue his consultations before announcing changes to U.S. policy in Iraq.
Speaking after their briefing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, December 28 where he is spending the holidays, the president, accompanied by Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said Gates and Pace “reported firsthand what they saw, [and] what they found,” and their report is an “important part of coming to closure on a way forward in Iraq.”
“[W]e're making good progress toward coming up with a plan that we think will help us achieve our objective,” he said.
Bush said he would be speaking with Republican and Democratic members of Congress, and added that “success in Iraq is vital for our own security,” as well as an important part of the War on Terror.
The president said the “key to success” is an Iraqi government “willing to deal with the elements there that are trying to prevent this young democracy from succeeding.”
“We want to help them succeed. And so we'll continue to consult with the Iraqis,” he added.
As Bush continues to consult on Iraq with those beyond his national security team, the U.S. troop levels in Iraq are tied to the recommendations of U.S. military commanders in Iraq as well as the ongoing requirements voiced by the Iraqi government.
Defense Department officials maintain that the size of the U.S. deployment in Iraq is based on those recommendations and requirements. In mid-November, press reports estimated that there were between 140,000 and 152,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and a similar number was reported for October 2005.
The Pentagon announced December 27 that it planned to dispatch the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to the U.S. Central Command's (CENTCOM’s) forward operating base in Kuwait at the start of 2007. The brigade's assignment puts it "on call" to respond to any emergency in the region identified by the CENTCOM commander, General John Abizaid.
The brigade replaces the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which already had been called up and deployed from Kuwait to Iraq in support of the multinational force in Iraq.
For more information on U.S. policy in Iraq, see Iraq Update.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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