The US Defense Department announced Friday that two Army brigades will not be deployed in Iraq as scheduled, and the decision will reduce U.S. force levels in Iraq by about 7,000.

 

Portions of the Fort Riley, Kansas-based 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, would not go Iraq, and the Germany-based 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, was to remain in Kuwait as a call-forward force.

 

The move would reduce the number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq from 17 to 15.

 

The size and composition of the U.S. force in Iraq however would continue to fluctuate as commanders continue to shift focus from combat operations to training and supporting the Iraqi security forces, and military adjustments would likely reduce the American forces in Iraq below the 138,000 baseline by the spring of 2006, the Pentagon said in a statement.

 

In Iraq, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said President George W. Bush has ordered the core force of 17 combat brigades inside Iraq to be trimmed to 15 brigades early next year.

 

Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials have said about 22,000 extra troops kept in Iraq for its Dec. 15 elections would rotate out of the country in early 2006. Holding back the two brigades would bring the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to about 130,000, the level for much of 2003 and 2004.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 24, 2005)