The next three to four months will be vital to determine if violence in Iraq can be cut further and security maintained with fewer American troops, the number two US military commander in Iraq said on Tuesday.
Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno said last week had seen the lowest number of violent incidents against civilians and security forces across Iraq in the past 15 months. US President George W. Bush, on a surprise visit to Iraq, raised the prospect of troop cuts after meeting top commanders at a desert air base in western Anbar province on Monday.
"I think the next three to four months is critical," said Odierno, head of day-to-day US military operations in Iraq. "I think if we can continue to do what we are doing, we'll get to such a level where we think we can do it with less troops," Odierno told a small group of foreign reporters at a US military base near Baghdad airport.
Attacks in August were the lowest in 13 months, he added. Odierno gave no detailed numbers, but he said the attacks included all violent incidents such as bombings and shootings. In fresh violence on Tuesday, a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi army major and four soldiers in the volatile oil city of Baji north of Baghdad. The Electricity Ministry also said eight workers had been kidnapped and killed in Baghdad on Monday.
During his seven-hour visit Bush met his top commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. The pair are due to deliver their assessment of his Iraq strategy to the Democrat-controlled Congress on September 10. Bush said his deployment of 30,000 more troops to Iraq, raising force levels to 160,000, had eased violence in some areas.