there are two things important here: the number of troops, and the number of insurgents. that there are still the high number of insurgents has GOT to be saying something.

Initially about a quarter of U.S. forces in Iraq may be brought back, according to the NYT's senior military sources—meaning the number of troops would be reduced to about 105,000 from the current 142,000. The rest of the timeline is not clear, though no one is expecting a complete pullout anytime soon. "We're there militarily for the long haul," says Rhode Island Sen.
Jack Reed, a Democrat and former Army officer. The insurgency is still estimated to have between 12,000 and 20,000 "hard-core fighters," despite the hundreds or
even thousands of fighters killed or taken prisoner in the last year