European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 11, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Stars and stripes june goo envisions Lon term presence by Thomas Ricks the Washington Post Baghdad military officials Here Are increasingly envisioning a pos occupation troop presence in Iraq that neither maintains current Levels nor leads to a Complete but Aims for a longer term Force that would re main in the country for this drawn from recent interviews with More than 20 military officers and other officials including senior strategists and re Mains in the Early planning it is based on officials assessment that a Sharp draw Down of troops is Likely to begin by the Middle of next with roughly two thirds of the current Force of moving out by late 2008 or Early the questions officials Are grappling with Are not whether the presence will be but How to what level and to what one of the guiding according to two officials is that the United states should leave Iraq More intelligently than it military Many of whom would be interviewed Only on the condition of say they Are now assessing conditions More rejecting the steady Progress mantra of their predecessors and recognizing that Short term political reconciliation in Iraq is a reduction of some officials would demonstrate to ant american factions that the occupation will not last forever while reassuring iraqi allies that the United states does not intend to abandon the the planning is shaped in part by logistical realities in the immediate allo nothing debate in Washington Over troop Levels represents a false some military officials even if a total pullout is the it could take a year to sex Odierno cute a full one official Esti mated that with Only one major route from the Southern Iraq to Kuwait it would take at least Large convoys some 10 months to remove military gear and personnel not including the several thousand combat vehicles that would be needed to protect such an were not going to go from where were at now to Zero Over said Raymond the commander for Day today operations in such a Lon term presence would have four major the Centrepiece would be a reinforced mechanized infantry division of around soldiers assigned to guarantee the Security of the iraqi government and to assist iraqi forces or their advisers if they get into fights they Petraeus cant a training and advisory Force of close to troops would work with iraqi military and police in officials envision a Small but significant special operations unit focused on fighting the sunni insurgent group Al Aida in the Headquarters and logistical elements to command and Supply such a Force would total More than plus some civilian the thinking behind this Post occupy Tion As one official called echoes the Core conclusion of a joint chiefs of staff planning group that last fall secretly considered three possible courses in which it categorized As go go Home and go the groups recommendation to reshape the presence in order to go Long to remain in Iraq for years with a smaller Force appears to carry weight in where some of the colonels who led that planning group have been working for army David the top commander in Iraq since deaths in Iraq the associated press As of at least members of the Mil itary have died since the be ginning of the Iraq War in March according to an associated press the figure includes seven military at least died As a re sult of hostile Accord ing to the military the a count is 12 higher than the defense depart ments last updated Fri Day at 10 the British military has re ported 150 deaths 33 18 20 bul 13 11 Den seven Al five three two each and aus South one death the latest deaths reported by the military a Soldier was killed Satur Day by Small arms fire in Day Ala t the latest identifications re ported by the military senior airman William Kingston died thurs Day from an explosive South of bated assigned to the explosive ordinance disposal team of the 15th cml Engi Neer Hickam Force Hawaii ii array sgt Spring wednesday if rpm an explosive in bag Dadas signed to the 212th military bomb collapses trapping gis by Charles Hanley the associated press Iraq an apparent suicide car bomber took aim at a Convoy carrying demolition experts on col lapsing a major Highway Over pass South of Baghdad and trap Ping american soldiers in the rub the vehicle detonated beside a support bringing Down an army checkpoint and a tent that had been on the collapsing dubbed checkpoint 20 by the the one of two crossing Over Iraq main North South Highway in the re appeared to be closed to All but military traffic at the a army Quick reaction Force and the staff of Armor group a private Security firm that was in charge of the passing worked for some 45 minutes to pull trapped men from the rubble about six Miles East of there appeared to be several including an iraqi interpreter who was according to Donald an official with the Security firm who was at the the which was witnessed by an associated press re Porter and a photographer who were in the approaching occurred in the Triangle of Bassem a Man smokes at the scene of a bombing outside police station in the Albu jail Village on sunday on the Eastern outskirts of so called for frequent sunni insurgent iraqi police said the overpass was a vital link across the High Way for villagers in the area be cause the other spans have been taken Over by a police officer in nearby Iskandar speaking on condition of anonymity because of Security con said a curfew had been imposed on vehicles and pedestrians after the attack on the Span and earlier bombings of a mosque and a sunni political party head quarters that caused some dam age but no in Eastern a Heli copter fired flares on a crowd on a hours after clashes be tween american troops and Shi Ite militia that left at least five peo ple the military said the flares were part of an automatic Sel defense fighting broke out in the pre dominantly shiite fid Iiliyah area on the Baghdad outskirts late Friday after a military con Voy came under attack outside the local offices of Muntada the ant american cleric whose Mahdi army militia has recently stepped up attacks on american the military said an Ameri can patrol called for air and ground support after it came under attack by Small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades fired from the a Sadr spokesman Christopher Garver said no americans were killed or but he did not have immediate information on iraqi sheikh Mohammed an a Sadr representative from the said the clashes broke out after a raid on the which doubles As a the Mili tary did not confirm the he said seven people were killed and 21 while local police officials put the Casu Alty figure at five killed and 19 the officials said those killed were iraqis and included bystanders caught in the Cross while 16 other men were de associated press television video footage shot Early sunday showed a Low flying Apache Heli copter firing flares As several Hun dred including teenagers and gathered around a devastated humvee Alhilfi accused the americans of using the helicopter flares to disperse the crowd so they could recover the charred but Garver said the flares were fired automatically As part of a Sel defense system for the Heli copters after several recent deadly attacks against the Taliban attack allegedly targeted Karzai the associated press Afghanistan Taliban militants fired rockets near president Harjd Karzai in an apparent assassination attempt in Central Afghanistan on but the missiles fell far from their target and no one was officials and witnesses the assassination bid was one among a spate of attacks that killed at least 66 mostly Over the weekend in restive Karzai was giving a speech to the elders and residents of Andar District in Ghazi prov Ince when rockets were fired said Ali Shah provincial police no one was he witnesses said they heard Between three and six but the Taliban claimed it fired off the rockets missed their with two of them Landing some 220 Yards away from the said Arif a local reporter at tending the event please sit Karzai told a nervous crowd under a tent in a school Yard dont be nothing is Karzai finished his speech and his Security detail whisked him off by helicopter to witnesses and officials it was the third at tempt on Karrais life since he became presi Dent mowing the ouster of the Taliban re Gime in purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the associated press that Tali ban militants were behind the the Taliban knew that Karzai was coming to Andar when Karzai was Peting with the the Taliban fire412 Ahmadi said by satellite phone from an Undis closed the rockets fell