WaPo: U.K. Memo Cites Plans For Troop Reduction

From this WaPo article:

LONDON, July 10 -- The United States and Britain are drawing up plans to withdraw the majority of their troops from Iraq by the middle of next year, according to a secret memo written for British Prime Minister Tony Blair by Defense Secretary John Reid.

The paper, which is marked "Secret -- UK Eyes Only," said "emerging U.S. plans assume that 14 out of 18 provinces could be handed over to Iraqi control by early 2006," allowing a reduction in overall U.S.-led forces in Iraq to 66,000 troops. The troop level is now at about 160,000, including 138,000 American troops, according to a military spokesman in Baghdad.

Reid on Sunday did not dispute the authenticity of the document, but said that no decision on troop levels had been made. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said officials there had not seen the document.
...
Part of the overall reduction, said the memo, would be a drop in total British forces by mid-2006 from 8,500 to around 3,000. The change, the memo added, could save Britain half of its current cost of around $1.7 billion per year.

The U.S. spends $1.7B every 1.7 days. We need to get out boys and girls out of there. And yes, they are boys and girls. More than you'd think are younger than I am, 25.

Walking through the Eyes Wide Open exhibit last weekend was disheartening. So many 18-year-olds. Too many 21-year-olds. Too many innocent civilians who haven't been properly counted.