Troops Will Continue to Die in Iraq Until at Least 2010

In an image released by officials at Fort Bragg, N.C., Sgt. Joseph W. Perry, of Alpine, Calif., is shown in an undated photo. Perry, 23, died Oct. 2 in Muhallah, Iraq, when his mounted patrol came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. Perry was assigned to the 21st Military Police Company (Airborne), 16th Military Police Brigade (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C. (AP Photo/U.S. Army, Fort Bragg, N.C.)

U.S. Marines carry the casket of Marine Lance Cpl. Christopher Cosgrove III from Saint Vincent Martyr Church after funeral services in Madison, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006. Cosgrove, 23, was killed in a roadside bombing at a military checkpoint in Iraq on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)

An photo provided by the Army shows Timothy Adam Fulkerson, 20, of Utica, Ky., who died Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006, in Tikrit, Iraq , during combat operations with the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg, N.C. A landmine detonated near his vehicle, the Department of Defense said. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)

The U.S. Army is planning on the basis that it may have to maintain current troop levels in Iraq until at least 2010, its top general said on Wednesday.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker said the United States was in a tough fight with insurgents in Iraq but his plans did not mean it would necessarily need to keep the present level of 15 combat brigades there for the next four years.

Including those brigades, numbering about 3,500-4,000 soldiers each, the United States has about 141,000 troops in Iraq.