As Iraqi election commissioners revealed partial ballot counts from last week’s elections, the US administration on Friday announced the first stage in one of the hoped-for dividends of the voting: a reduction in troop numbers.
Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defence, announced on a trip to the country that the number of US combat brigades inside Iraq would be reduced from 17 to 15 – a total of 7,000 troops. It is the first move below the base level of 138,000 troops which has been maintained for most of this year.
