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Baghdad (AFP) Aug 24, 2010 US troop numbers in Iraq fell below 50,000 on Tuesday, a week ahead of an official end to America's combat mission, as a poll cast doubt on the timing of the pullout and warned of negative consequences. The news comes as a spike in unrest over the past two months has triggered concern that Iraqi forces are not yet ready to handle security on their own, and with no new government formed in Baghdad since a March 7 general election. A US Army statement said the number of its soldiers was below 50,000 in line with President Barack Obama's direction as part of a "responsible drawdown" of troops, seven years on from the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. The top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, told reporters that around 49,700 soldiers are now stationed in the country. "It will stay at that level through next summer," he said in Baghdad. However, the spike in violence has sparked concern that local forces are not ready to take over sole responsibility for their country's security. American troop levels are now less than a third of the peak figure of around 170,000 during the US military "surge" of 2007, when Iraq was in the midst of a brutal Shiite-Sunni sectarian war that cost thousands of lives. Tens of thousands of US soldiers have been withdrawn in recent months and the last American unit designated as a "combat brigade" left Iraq and crossed into neighbouring Kuwait last Thursday. All remaining US brigades in Iraq are now labelled "advise and assist" brigades, as part of American plans to help train and build up Iraqi forces before a complete withdrawal, due to take place by the end of next year. American troops may still conduct counter-terrorism operations with local forces and they maintain the right to self-defence. Just Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed two policemen and a civilian and wounded 13 people at a checkpoint in central Iraq, while three others died from violence elsewhere in the country, security officials said. And officials said two Iraqi judges were killed last week, in a spate of attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda which says it was avenging death sentences being handed down to Sunnis in Shiite prisons. Meanwhile, a nationwide poll on Tuesday also cast doubt on Obama's decision to pull out thousands of soldiers. More than half those questioned warned that the timing was wrong and that it would have negative consequences. Some 59.8 percent of those queried said the timing of the pullout was not correct, compared to 39.5 percent who agreed with Obama. And 53.1 percent of respondents said they disagreed with Obama's decision last year to end the combat mission in Iraq on August 31, compared with 46.2 percent who backed the US president. From September 1, American forces in Iraq will carry out missions under Operation New Dawn, which replaced Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to Iraqi government figures, disputed by the United States, July was the deadliest month in the country since May 2008. Last week, a suicide bomber killed 59 people at an army recruitment centre in Baghdad. US commanders insist their Iraqi counterparts are up to the task, but Iraq's top military officer warned earlier this month his army would not be ready until 2020 and called for US forces to stay until then. General Odierno disagreed on Tuesday with Lieutenant General Babaker Zebari's assessment, saying at the briefing in Baghdad that he was "not sure I agree with the 2020 thing." "I think some time after 2011 (for Iraq's security forces to be ready). I feel comfortable with what they have been able to do internally." The top general had already acknowledged on Sunday that a "complete failure" of Iraq's forces could oblige the United States to resume combat operations, but he said this was an unlikely scenario. "My assessment today is they will be (ready)," he told CNN, speaking from Baghdad, adding that the US military may be forced to resume combat operations "if, for example, you had a complete failure of the (Iraqi) security forces ... "If you had some political divisions within the political forces that caused them to fracture, but we don't see that happening," he said.
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