Combat tours in Iraq won't be shortened after all

WASHINGTON — The Army will not shorten combat tours in Iraq next year from 12 months to six or nine months, as some had hoped, because that would undermine the war effort, the Army's top general said Tuesday.

Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, told a group of reporters that he would prefer shorter combat tours in Iraq but believes that cannot happen as long as the U.S. military is required to maintain roughly the 135,000 troops there now to fight the insurgency.

The Army and Marine Corps are preparing to maintain that level at least through the end of next year. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said that if U.S.-trained and equipped Iraqi security forces become available in larger numbers next year, as expected, then U.S. troops levels may be reduced.

On a related matter, the Army's vice chief of staff, Gen. Richard Cody, said the Army has not been asked to accelerate the deployment of a fresh rotation of troops into Iraq. These include four brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division, which is scheduled to go there in January.

Some have cited the possibility of getting some parts of the 3rd Infantry to Iraq sooner to bolster the force in the final weeks before Iraq holds elections in late January.

"He hasn't asked for that," Cody said, referring to Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East. If asked, the Army could speed up some of the deployments, Cody said.

The 3rd Infantry, which spearheaded the drive to Baghdad in March and April 2003, has been reorganizing this year and will be the first division to make a return deployment.

When the war began in March 2003 there was little debate about the length of combat tours in Iraq because the Pentagon did not expect to keep large numbers of troops there for more than a few months after the fall of Baghdad, which occurred in April. By that summer, however, the 12-month rule was adopted for both active-duty and reserve units, and a few units have been ordered to stay even longer.

Schoomaker and Cody cited several drawbacks to shortening combat tours under current circumstances, which include an insurgency that continues to adapt its tactics of killing coalition and Iraqi forces.

Among them:

— The fight against the insurgents will be more effective if there is not a frequent turnover of American troops, in part because on-the-ground experience pays dividends in understanding the enemy.