General: Quick withdrawal risky for Baghdad

General: Quick withdrawal risky for Baghdad
By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 17, 2007 17:44:56 EST

WASHINGTON — Though violence in Iraq has declined, withdrawing U.S. troops too quickly would spell failure in some parts of the capital, a top general said Monday.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, commander in Baghdad, said progress made toward securing the city in recent months is “fledgling, fragile and not guaranteed.”

He said that although violence is down, it has dropped because the troop buildup ordered by President Bush in January has made it possible to have a “force presence that is almost throughout the city” — that is, coalition and Iraqi forces, supplemented by so-called “Concerned Local Citizens.”

“There is absolutely a risk of going too quickly,” he told a Pentagon press conference by video hookup from Baghdad. “It’s clear that pulling out too quickly, before the Iraqis are truly able to take over these areas independently, would be very risky and there are some areas in the city where, at this point, it would fail.”

Attacks in Iraq are at their lowest levels since the first year of the American invasion in 2003, finally opening a window for reconciliation among rival sects, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander in Iraq, said Sunday.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/ap_quickwithdrawal_071217/