US Army unit staying in Germany, no Iraq move now

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) The Pentagon has delayed deployment of an Army combat brigade to Iraq, but that is not necessarily a sign of a pending drawdown of troops from Iraq, a U S government official said.

The U S Army's 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, which included 3,500 soldiers and is based in Germany, had been due to go to Iraq this month, but it was being ''held in place'' for now, the official, who asked not to be named said yesterday.

However that decision should not be linked to speculation about a troop drawdown, the official cautioned.

A Pentagon spokesman declined comment, saying the U S military had not yet made public any decisions regarding that specific combat brigade or the size of the U S force in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week said he expects recommendations from U S commanders in Iraq on possible troop cuts sometime a coming weeks.

Rumsfeld repeated that he expected to reduce the 133,000-strong U S force in Iraq, but gave no specific targets or dates. The U S force has already shrunk by about 30,000 troops since December.

REUTERS VJ RN0733