The top American commander in Iraq said Wednesday he was preparing recommendations on troop reductions before he returns to Washington next month for a report to Congress and understood that the U.S. footprint in Iraq would have to be "a good bit smaller" by next summer.But Gen. David Petraeus cautioned against a quick or significant U.S. withdrawal that could surrender "the gains we have fought so hard to achieve."
Petraeus said the "horrific and indiscriminate attacks" that killed at least 250 Yazidis, an ancient religious sect, in northwestern Iraq Tuesday night were the work of al-Qaeda fighters. The bombings occurred near the Syrian border, and U.S. officials charge the Damascus regime has not done enough to police the frontier against infiltration by foreign fighters who dominate al-Qaeda.
That series of bomb attacks would bolster his argument, Petraeus said, against too quickly drawing down the 30,000 additional U.S. troops deployed in the first half of the year.
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