Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: US announces possible troop decrease as Brussels aid conference begins (AFP)

A US general announced a possible decrease of troops in Iraq ahead of a
major meeting on post-war reconstruction in Brussels.
As many as five brigades (up to 20,000 soldiers) could leave Iraq if the
country's ethnic groups agree on a constitution and elect a government that
has broad support, said Lieutenant General John Vines, the number-two US
commander in Iraq.
"I suspect we will probably draw down capability after the election, because
Iraqi security forces are more capable," Vines said Tuesday in a two-way
press conference at the Pentagon via video-link from Iraq.
Vines referred to the planned late 2005 elections, scheduled to follow an
October referendum on a new Iraqi constitution.
Vines predicted the insurgency would dwindle if the political process
succeeded. But any troop drawdown would depend on conditions on the ground,
he cautioned.
In Britain, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told lawmakers the US-led coalition
did not have an "open-ended" commitment to staying in the country.
He added that "violence is at an unacceptable level, higher than was
anticipated."
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Baghdad "would not be surprised
... If there would be some withdrawal, let's say early 2006."
"The more our forces assume responsibility, the less role the multinational
force will have in Iraq," he said, speaking in Brussels on the eve of an
international conference on rebuilding Iraq.
Zebari also warned NATO that the "consequences of failure" in Iraq could
resonate beyond the country's borders.
It is the first such conference attended by the interim government elected
in Iraq's landmark democratic elections in January, an event which muted
some of the opposition in Europe over the US-led invasion of Iraq in March
2003.
"The international consensus that has long eluded us on Iraq is now in
place," said European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States urged Iraq's
neighbours to give more debt relief to the country, but held out little hope
of any breakthrough at the conference.
She said the meeting of leaders from more than 80 countries and
organisations was an opportunity to build "a new international partnership
for Iraq" as it emerges from the US occupation.
Meanwhile, US and Iraqi forces completed the five-day Operation Spear in and
around the western city of Karabilah, reporting a final toll of 47
insurgents killed and one detained, a military statement said.
The operation was one of two launched last week in lawless Al-Anbar
province, which covers most of western Iraq. Five US soldiers died in the
fighting.
Karabilah was said to be a way station for insurgents and weapons smuggled
in from Syria.
Another 15 were killed in Operation Dagger near Lake Tharthar, southeast of
the Iraq-Syria border.
In Baghdad, the new US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad vowed to work with Iraqis
to crush the tenacious insurgents.
"I will work with Iraqis to break the back of the insurgency," Khalilzad
said after presenting his credentials to President Jalal Talabani in the
heavily fortified Green Zone where most American and Iraqi officials live.
Insurgents believed to be led by Sunni Arabs and Jordanian-born extremist
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi kill dozens of Iraqis almost daily, targeting members
of the country's security forces in particular.
And the Iraqi court that is to try ousted leader Saddam Hussein and his
aides questioned jailed former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz, his lawyer
said.
In Rome, Saddam's lawyer Giovanni di Stefano told reporters that his client
cannot be tried by the Iraqi court, stating that Saddam is still legally the
president of the country and therefore has an immunity from prosecution.
"According to the current Iraqi constitution . . . the president has the
right to immunity from prosecution," said the lawyer, who was also legal
advisor for then Yugloslav president Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s.
"Well, at present, Saddam Hussein is legally the president of Iraq," said di
Stefano, while not excluding a trial in a third country.
In Washington, the White House rejected calls from opposition Democrats for
an independent commission to investigate alleged abuse of detainees at
US-run prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"The safety of our country depends on our reputation and how we are viewed,
especially in the Muslim world," said the head of the Democratic minority in
the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

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