Top US Commander in Iraq to rescind controversial pregnancy rules

December 28, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

The top US Commander in Iraq will put into effect a new policy for all troops in Iraq, one that will omit controversial rules regarding pregnancy.

Top U.S. Commander General Ray Odierno has announced plans to rescind a policy that disciplines troops that become pregnant or impregnate someone.

The original policy was put into place by Major General Anthony Cucolo in November as a means to keep key personnel in the theater of combat. But the policy drew criticism from women’s rights activists and four U.S. senators.

“That will not be in my orders from January 1,” General Odierno told Reuters in Baghdad last Thursday.

First Lieutenant Elizabeth Feste explained the new policy, effective January 1, 2010, to the AFP in an e-mail. “In the normal course of standing up United States Forces-Iraq (USF-I), a review of all existing orders and policies of several commands has been underway,” she said.

“The updated USF-I policy does not include a pregnancy provision. Additionally, all requests by subordinate units to impose further restrictions of activities … will require approval of the USF-I Commander.”

USF-I will represent a new change for U.S. troops in Iraq. They originally fell under the jurisdiction of the Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I), but as there are no more troops from other countries supporting the efforts in Iraq, a change to USF-I will be made. The current force of 115,000 U.S. troops will be reduced to 50,000 by the end of August in 2010 with a goal of full withdraw by the end of 2011.

Despite criticism, General Cucolo continued the defense of his policy. “I’ve got a mission to do. I’m given a finite number of soldiers with which to do it, and I need every one of them. So I’m going to take every measure I can to keep them all strong, fit and with me for the twelve months we are in the combat zone,” he told the BBC earlier this month.

It was later revealed that four soldiers under General Cucolo’s command had become pregnant and three male soldiers were reprimanded. All faced some sort of discipline for not following orders, though Cucolo early last week told reporters that he didn’t plan to court martial any of them for the offense.