120,000 Army troops in Iraq through '07

WASHINGTON — The Army's current plan is to keep about 120,000 soldiers in Iraq through 2007, roughly the same number that are there now, a senior operations officer said on Monday.

His projection comes as members of Congress are pressing the administration for a more detailed explanation of its plan for an eventual withdrawal, and as the administration is about to seek about $80 billion in additional military spending for operations in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan.

In a briefing for reporters, Lt. Gen. James J. Lovelace, the director of Army operations, said the projection is for the Army staff's planning purposes only. Actual troop levels follow the recommendations of combat commanders, based on the evolving security situation, and subject to approval by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. But he said the plan represents the "most probable" level under current assumptions.

The prospect of maintaining forces at about the current level implies continuing heavy costs. This year alone, the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to exceed $100 billion.

Bush administration officials have repeatedly said they are counting on newly trained and equipped Iraqi forces to begin replacing American troops in securing the country, perhaps as early as this summer. That could allow the Pentagon eventually to start withdrawing the 150,000 troops who are there now — 120,000 Army soldiers and 30,000 from the Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy.

As the Army is by far the biggest supplier of troops in Iraq of any of the armed services, the fact that its top operations officer is not planning for any troop reductions any time soon is yet another indicator of how the Iraqi training program is lagging woefully behind original Pentagon estimates.

"We're planning for what is the most probable case," Lovelace said in an introductory interview with Pentagon reporters, his first since taking over his new job a short while ago. He added that as Iraqi forces "stand up and become more and more capable, the logical outcome of that would be less need for U.S. forces."

For the Army, stretched nearly to the limit by the unexpectedly prolonged presence in Iraq, that relief cannot come soon enough, its planners say. At least for now, active-duty forces are returning for second tours in Iraq just a year after leaving the country, half the interval for recuperation and training that the Army wants. The Army Reserve and National Guard said on Monday that they, too, are running short of deployable units.