Hot Town, Summer in the City...

One briefing (General Odierno, 8 May 2009) - two headlines:

New York Times - General Sees a Longer Stay in Iraq Cities for U.S. Troops "The top American general in Iraq said Friday that one-fifth of American combat troops would stay behind in Iraqi cities even after the June 30 deadline that the United States and Iraq had set for the departure."

AFP - US on track to exit Iraqi cities by end June: commander: "WASHINGTON (AFP) — US forces are on track to pull out of all Iraqi cities by the end of June in line with a deal struck with Iraq, Washington's top commander in the country said on Friday."

And a bonus: We don't need US troops in cities: Iraq PM tells Pelosi

But the first paragraph of that last story exposes the lie in the headline: ""We don't need big numbers of (US) military forces inside the cities after we get control of them," Maliki said..." - so chalk that up as another obvious example of why people who read headlines alone aren't as "well informed" as the rapidly dwindling number of morons who believe the text they read beneath them.

As for the other two headlines, they're reminiscent of the time of the announcement of the surge, when both President Bush and General Petraeus explained that we were sending in more troops, but the solution to Iraq's problems weren't exclusively military. The media created a fictional disagreement between them by giving each credit for half the quote - but this is the first time I recall them actually attempting to fabricate a General who wouldn't listen to himself.

The American media-created myth of withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities continues unabated. But the reality isn't that complicated and has not changed since the SOFA (pdf) and Strategic Framework Agreement (pdf) were signed last Fall. Prime Minister Maliki understands it - reduced numbers of ("non-combat") U.S. troops will remain in Iraqi cities functioning as enablers (coordinating air support and other services the Iraqis can't yet provide themselves) and advisers (trainers, etc.). Others stationed outside the cities will be available if needed to provide security.

American military commanders understand this too - and are willing to take as much time as necessary to explain it very carefully to American reporters. U.S. Brigade Combat Teams (now called "Advise and Assist Brigades") preparing to deploy to Iraq are training for that role - and even learning the basics of providing essential city management services. In Iraq, efforts are ongoing to ensure Iraqis are informed of and understand the continued presence of American troops in cities there after June 30th. In the Western media, an equally vigorous effort is underway to ensure the rest of the world is ignorant. (An alternative explanation exists - that reporters simply can't comprehend and are effortlessly sharing their confusion with others.) For additional details including audio and video interviews with American commanders on this topic, see here.

As for the briefing that resulted in both the headlines above, here's the transcript of General Odierno's attempt to update the press last week.

First order of business, there are now only two cities where "combat" troops remain, Baghdad and Mosul, and there's a possibility "combat" troops will remain in Mosul after June 30th:

...frankly, we're basically out of all the cities except for two, Baghdad and Mosul. We are on our way out of Baghdad. We've been slowly turning that over to the Iraqi security forces now for about three months, and I think they've made some pretty good progress.

We still have a major operation going inside of Mosul with all forces assisting and helping out. We expect that to end here within about 30 to 45 days, and then there'll be a decision to be made. I think if you ask the prime minister today, I think he would say that we will be out of the cities by the end of the 30th of June, and it is his decision.

But we'll continue to conduct assessments. I was just up there Saturday, and we conducted a joint assessment -- myself, the minister of defense, the minister of interior -- and we got a full brief from both Iraqi leaders as well as the U.S. leaders on an assessment of Mosul. And based on that assessment, there's some problems that we have to work through. But in fact, there's potential that they can handle the mission post starting on 1 July.

Q What's your best assessment of the number of U.S. troops that would stay behind as enablers in the cities after June 30th?

GEN. ODIERNO: Well, again, what I don't want to do is -- I've left that to the local operational commanders to figure that out. But let me give you some broad guidelines that I've given everyone; is that we will continue to have liaison elements inside of all the joint security -- inside joint security stations, one that we've agreed to. We will continue to have advisory and transition teams embedded with Iraqi forces in order to provide them enablers. That will be determined, the size and how many -- I'm letting each local commander determine that, because that is something that they have to agree upon between the Iraqi security force leader and the U.S. leader. But those are the general guidelines that I've given the commanders, and they're working their way through that.

Q There's no number you're going to tell us about?

GEN. ODIERNO: There isn't a number. I mean -- I mean, I don't know what it is. And what I tell you today might be different 30 days from now, because they're working that out on the ground. And that's why I don't want to get into that.

Q But is there an order -- is there an order of magnitude? Is it hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands?

GEN. ODIERNO: Well, I -- you know, I would say -- no, I would say it's probably -- let me -- I would say it's probably about 20 percent of what it is now.

As the briefing drew to a close, someone must have woken up a dozing reporter who then offered this question:

Q After June 30, will there be any U.S. military advisers embedded with Iraqi forces in the cities?

GEN. ODIERNO: Yeah.

Q So they will continue that role?

GEN. ODIERNO: Yeah. I mean, our plan is, in joint security stations, there'll be -- there'll be liaison officers and there'll be advisers -- adviser teams with the Iraqi security. Not all, but some. And it depends on the level of where they're at.

Barring disaster, Iraq on July 1st won't look much different on June 30th, which won't look much different than Iraq today. As an Iraq-bound Brigade Commander explained earlier this month, the process is evolutionary - not revolutionary. Transition of the U.S. role to more of a build/support/"enable from overwatch" posture has been ongoing since early 2008 - a result of the military successes of the year before.