WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House said on Saturday it was premature to talk about reducing troop levels in Iraq after a newspaper report suggested the US administration was considering a drastic cut in force levels next year.
"The business at hand is to complete the mission, and to pursue the present strategy, and any decision for future force levels will be made by the president based on advice from commanders in the field and his national security advisers," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
Perino's comments came in response to a New York Times article saying administration officials were working on several "concepts" for reducing the number of US combat troops in Iraq by as much as 50 percent in 2008.