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Editorial: Give Petraeus time, room

The Army remains on track to bring home on schedule the five brigade combat teams that made up the “surge.” Their return will reduce to 15 the number of BCTs operating in Iraq.

Talk that the drawdown of forces could continue beyond that, pushed by Army leaders in Washington, understandably has many field commanders concerned that leaders would draw down forces in Iraq too quickly, paving the way for a potential resurgence of the insurgency. The increased number of attacks in the past few weeks north of Baghdad and in Mosul add credence to that that concern.

The key for the president is to follow through with what he said earlier in January: If Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, wants at any point to halt the the drawdown of forces there, “that’s fine with me, in order to make sure we succeed.”

Make no mistake — the Army is in a real bind. Repeated long deployments are wearing down soldiers, families and equipment. The mounting call to send more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is making a comeback, add to the pressure to find ways to lighten the burden imposed by the war in Iraq.

But Petraeus and field commanders need leeway to execute their strategy in Iraq, and if that means adjusting on the fly, the president is right to give him the room to do so. It took time to show the surge was working — indeed, at the start, violence increased and some said the policy was a failure. It will take time to determine if 15 BCTs can continue the progress, and whether a further drawdown is practicable.

Ultimately, if post-surge troop levels — and more trained Iraqi forces — can hold and expand on the gains made over the past year, and the Iraq government demonstrates its willingness and ability to assume the lead in establishing security, then further drawdowns are in order.

If not, the timing will be such that the next president will get a choice: another surge or an exit strategy.