Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz says that with
the election in Iraq over he believes some 15,000 U.S. troops can be
withdrawn, reducing the American military force to 135,000 . . .
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told reporters at a Pentagon news
conference he believes the elections may stiffen the resolve of
ordinary Iraqis to fight in cooperation with American forces.

Associated Press
Pentagon sees possible troop reduction in Iraq
February 4, 2005

McNamara and Taylor assured Kennedy that "the military
campaign has made great progress and continues to progress," despite
"serious political tensions in Saigon," and that the war could still be
won by the end of 1965 ... They recommended pulling out 1,000 Americans
by the end of 1963 in order to demonstrate how well the plans for
victory were being implemented. The White House announced a forthcoming
withdrawal of this first 1,000 men.

Neil Sheehan
A Bright and Shining Lie
1989

Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit
strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon
has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous
troops . . . The resulting confusion over numbers has allowed the US
administration to claim that it is half-way to meeting the target of
training almost 270,000 Iraqi forces, including around 52,000 troops
and 135,000 Iraqi policemen. The reality, according to experts, is that
there may be as few as 5,000 troops who could be considered combat
ready.

The Independent
Pentagon covers up failure
To train and recruit local security forces
February 13, 2005