Pentagon says to delay Iraq troop cuts until 2009

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
President George W. Bush's top defense advisers have recommended he maintain 15 combat brigades in Iraq until the end of the year, contrary to expectations that improved security there would facilitate quicker cuts, The Associated Press has learned. Military leaders told the AP that the closely held plan would send a small Marine contingent to Afghanistan in November. Those marines would replace one of two Marine units expected to head home then. If Bush should follow the recommendations, he would delay any additional buildup in Afghanistan until early next year, when a brigade would be deployed there instead of to Iraq. Several senior military and defense officials described the recommendations on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.