Bush faces mounting pressure on Iraq drawdown

CRAWFORD, Texas (AFP) - President George W. Bush, lawmakers, and uniformed military commanders were locked yesterday in an escalating political conflict over whether to reduce US troop levels in Iraq.

With just three weeks before a key progress report on the unpopular war, Bush faced mounting pressure from Congress to announce that he would bring home at least some of the roughly 160,000 US troops in Iraq.

A formal report from the 16 US intelligence agencies has painted a grim assessment of Iraq's future, warning the leadership is "unable to govern" effectively and that a drawdown of US forces could increase sectarian violence.

But General Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was reportedly poised to urge Bush to cut US force levels in Iraq by nearly half next year to ease the strain the war has placed on the military.

Pace, who leaves his post in September, was likely to advise Bush that maintaining more than 100,000 of the 162,000 troops now present through 2008 will place severe strains on the US military, the Los Angeles Times said, citing Bush administration and military officials.

The recommendation, which the Times said would be offered privately, highlighted differences within the military and the government over Iraq, eight months after the president's "surge" policy boosted troop levels by 30,000.

Pace and the Joint Chiefs worry that the Iraq war "has degraded the US military's ability to respond, if needed, to other threats, such as Iran," the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, a senior US commander said yesterday any reduction of US troops in his area of Iraq this year would be "a giant step backwards," allowing insurgents to regain sanctuaries wrested from them in hard fighting.

Army Major General Rick Lynch, who commands a division in volatile central Iraq in Baghdad's southern outskirts, said Iraqi security forces will not be ready to take over security in the area before the spring or summer of 2008.

Lynch's comments implicitly confirm White House officials' warnings that the "surge" will fail to reach at least one key benchmark: Handing Iraqis the responsibility for the security of their country by November 1.

Bush aides say they will know more when the top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and the US ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, testify to Congress next month before the White House sends lawmakers its September 15 progress report.

Bush, who has accused his critics of wanting to "pull the rug out" from under US troops in combat, has given no sign that he will bend to such pressure, although aides have kept the draw-down option open.

"I think it's inappropriate for me to say from here right now what the president will or will not consider," he said.

"I don't think that the president feels any differently about setting a specific timetable."

Powerful Republican Senator John Warner, fresh from meetings with US military officials and Iraqi leaders, earlier called on Bush to announce on September 15 "the first step in the withdrawal of our forces."

The move would send a signal to the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and nations in the region that the US commitment to Iraq is not open ended, said Warner, who returned recently from Iraq.

"You do not want to lose the momentum, but certainly in 160,000-plus, say, 5,000 could begin to redeploy and be home to their families and loved ones no later than Christmas of this year," he said.

"I appreciate the senator's comments. But we will wait until Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus return from Baghdad and make their report," replied national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.