The White House plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed in Iraq from 160,000 to around 138,000 following December 15 Iraqi elections, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday, according to DPA. Rumsfeld told ABC News' This Week talk show that the troops to be pulled out of Iraq were reinforcements that had originally been sent in to boost security during the referendum on the Iraqi constitution and during the December parliamentary polls. He declined to commit to a timetable for full Iraqi withdrawal but confirmed indirectly that the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, had already drawn up a number of withdrawal scenarios. These plans, Rumsfeld said, were dependent on the fulfilment of a series of conditions, key among them being the ability of the Iraqi police and army to maintain security in the country.
