U.S. Says Number Of Troops In Iraq Below 50,000 Reuters reports: “The U.S. military said on Tuesday it had cut the number of its troops in Iraq to below 50,000 ahead of an August 31 deadline set by President Barack Obama to end its combat missions. The U.S. military commander in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, said troop numbers were at around 49,700 and would stay at that level for the next year ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2011 agreed in a bilateral security pact. ‘My planning is it will stay at that level through next summer,’ Odierno told reporters in Baghdad, adding that the timeline would give the U.S. Embassy the space it needed to take over tasks still being undertaken by the military.”
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=122235