US to send home 4,000 troops from Iraq

Washington, September 30: The top general in Iraq is sending home 4,000 more US troops by the end of October as the American military winds down the six-year war. Army Gen.

Ray Odierno said in remarks prepared for a congressional hearing Wednesday that the number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq will total about 120,000 over the next month. He said that will mean about 4,000 fewer troops than are in Iraq now — about the size of an Army brigade.

“As we go forward, we will thin our lines across Iraq in order to reduce the risk and sustain stability through a deliberate transition of responsibilities to the Iraqi security forces,” Odierno said in a statement he was to deliver before the House Armed Services Committee.

—Agencies