Pat Dollard | Young Americans

USMC Sgt Brody Zeigler and the 3rd Battalion 7th Marines

USMC Sgt. Brody Zeigler shares a smile

August 27, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Marine commandant said Wednesday that his forces in Iraq’s once-volatile western Anbar Province can be reduced, as the military moves to hand over control of the region to the Iraqis next week.

Gen. James Conway told Pentagon reporters that the two Marine regimental combat teams currently in Anbar would not be needed to maintain security there once the Iraqis take over because violence has continued to drop.

The transfer has been delayed since late June, largely due to worries it could set off unrest as well.

Reducing forces in Iraq, Conway said, is necessary in order to move any additional Marines into Afghanistan, where violence is on the rise.

“Quite frankly, young Marines join our corps to go fight for their country,” Conway said. “They are doing a very good job of this nation-building business. But it’s our view that if there is a stiffer fight going some place else, in a much more expeditionary environment where the Marine air-ground task force really seems to have a true and enduring value, then that’s where we need to be.”

Conway, who has repeatedly pressed for more Marine involvement in the Afghanistan fight, said commanders say they need as many as 10,000 additional combat forces there to quell the insurgents.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates earlier this year dispatched more than 3,400 Marines to Afghanistan, including roughly 1,200 to serve as trainers for the Afghan forces.

The trainers, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is fighting in the south, already had their tours extended by about a month - until the end of November. Conway said that he would not rule out another short extension for a “small segment” of the Marines.