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US President George W. Bush is expected to announce a plan to cut troop levels in Iraq by 30,000 by mid 2008 when he addresses the nation later this week, US officials told US media yesterday.
The speech will be delivered as early as Thursday and then the White House is expected to deliver the long-awaited Iraq status report Friday, capping a week-long focus on the Iraq issue, officials said on condition of anonymity. In announcing troop drawdown, the president is adopting the recommendations by top U.S. officials in Iraq who testified on Iraq issue on the Capitol Hill on Monday and Tuesday. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. official in Iraq, told Congress Monday that a Marine unit will depart Iraq later this month and recommended cutting U.S. troop levels there by a single combat brigade or 4,000, in mid December. Eventually, in his vision, the U.S. troop levels in Iraq could drop back to 130,000 next summer, or the level before the Bush administration decided to send 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in January to quell violence. There are 168,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, the highest level since the war began. However, the president is unlikely to change course in Iraq or set a timetable to bring all troops home, as Democrats have been demanding for so long. He will also set strict conditions which will allow the reduction of the forces. Nevertheless, Bush will use the drawdown decision to mend fences with the Congress and expressed his willingness to cooperate with Democrats on the Iraq issue. On Tuesday, he visited the Capitol Hill and met with leaders from both parties. "I＇ve asked the (congressional) leadership to come and share their thoughts about Iraq," Bush said, adding he wants to find some common ground with the Congress on the Iraq issue. However, many don＇t buy the troop drawdown decision, saying it is a only political show. According to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, two-thirds of Americans said they believe Bush will hold to his current course no matter what. The Los Angles Times pointed out yesterday that the real reason for the drawdown is that the US military is unable to replace troops rotating from Iraq. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post wrote: "It＇s clear by now that playing for time in Iraq is the real White House strategy. Everything else is tactical maneuver and rhetorical legerdemain, with which the administration is buying time, roughly in six-month increments."
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