Bush announces shorter deployments in Iraq

WASHINGTON–President Bush said today he would reduce the length of Army deployments in Iraq from the current 15 months to 12 months.

The move was recommended by the Pentagon, concerned that the longer deployments were placing too much stress on the force. Bush also said in a speech at the White House that troops would have at least a year at home before being sent back to the field.

Bush announced the shift as he reported to the nation in the wake of testimony to Congress by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan C. Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, on the results of the surge of troops that Bush announced 15 months ago.

He said that at the time he announced the increased troop strength, American were worried about the prospects of failure in Iraq. Now, he said, the nation was looking at “the prospect of success” as a result of the increased troop strength he dispatched there.

In remarks he said were addressed to the military units and American civilians in Iraq, the president said: “The turnaround you’ve made possible in Iraq is a brilliant achievement in American history.”

Bush said that while “serious and complex challenges remain in Iraq” – he singled out what he said was a continued Al Qaeda presence and Iran’s ongoing influence – “a major strategic shift has occurred,” giving the United States and its Iraqi allies the initiative that was missing when he first boosted the deployment.

The president said that Petraeus had reported that by the end of July he would be able to send home enough troops to lower the overall troop level by 25% compared with last year.

The speech amounted to Bush’s latest assessment of what he and other officials present as an evolution of conditions in Iraq and the forecast for the course the United States will take there as he tries to turn over greater responsibility to the Iraqi civilian leadership and security units.

It suggests that as Bush’s term winds down, the U.S. force in Iraq will still be massive but will slowly be shrinking. But he will be turning over to his successor a continued, major military operation–accompanied by his warning that backing away from the U.S. commitment would be “simply wrong.”

“Our job in the period ahead is to stand with the Iraqi government,” Bush said.

He singled out Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s much-criticized security operation last week in Basra, which required a strong show of U.S. force. Bush focused on Maliki’s willingness to undertake the mission, “to make clear a free Iraq will not loner tolerate lawlessness,” which the president said was fed by militants backed by nearby Iran.

He said he expected Iraq to begin “to shoulder the full burden” of its security costs, with the United States playing “an increasingly supporting role.”

james.gerstenzang@latimes.com