Chinese language - Bush sees possible troop cuts in Iraq

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WORLD / Middle East

Bush sees possible troop cuts in Iraq

(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-04 06:47

AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - US President Bush raised the possibility Monday
of US troop cuts in Iraq if security continues to improve, traveling here
secretly to assess the war before a showdown with Congress.

US President George W. Bush poses with troops after addressing them
during an unannounced visit to Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, September 3,
2007. [Reuters]

The president was joined by his war cabinet and military commanders at an
unprecedented meeting in Iraq over eight hours at this dusty military
base in the heart of Anbar province, 120 miles west of Baghdad.

Bush did not say how large a troop withdrawal might be possible or
whether it might occur before next spring when the first of the
additional 30,000 troops he ordered to Iraq this year are to start coming
home anyway. He emphasized that any cut would depend upon progress.

After talks with Gen. David Petraeus, the US commandeer in Iraq, and
Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Bush said they "tell me if the kind of success
we are now seeing continues, it will be possible to maintain the same
level of security with fewer American forces."

Bush's trip was a dramatic move to steal the thunder from the Democratic
Congress as it returns to Washington with fresh hopes of ending the
unpopular war, now in its fifth year. Petraeus and Crocker will testify
before lawmakers next week, and then Bush will announce how he intends to
proceed in Iraq.

On Air Force One after leaving Iraq, Bush acknowledged that his comment
about troop reductions had piqued interest. "Maybe I was intending to do
that," the president said, sitting around a table with reporters in his
plane's conference room as he flew to Australia to meet with Asia-Pacific
leaders.

"If you look at my comments over the past eight months, it's gone from a
security situation in the sense that we're either going to get out and
there will be chaos, or more troops," the president said. "Now the
situation has changed where I'm able to speculate on the hypothetical."

Still, Bush struck a defiant note about demands for bringing troops home.

Standing before troops cheering "hooah," Bush said decisions on force
levels "will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on
the conditions on the ground — not a nervous reaction by Washington
politicians to poll results in the media.

"In other words," Bush said, "when we begin to draw down troops from
Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a
position of fear and failure."

Once the stronghold of the Sunni Arab insurgency, Anbar province now is
cited as a model for the rest of Iraq. Violence abated after Sunni tribal
leaders and former insurgents broke with al-Qaida and teamed up with US
troops to hunt down extremists.

"Anbar is a huge province," Bush said. "It was once written off as lost.
It is now one of the safest places in Iraq."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said it will take several months to assess
whether security improvements across Iraq are sufficient to enable Bush
to start withdrawing troops. He provided no details on Bush's thinking
about the timing and scope of any reductions.

"I am more optimistic than I have been at any time since I took this
job," said Gates.

Bush met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top
government officials from Baghdad. He urged the government to respond to
progress in Anbar. He also met with Sunni tribal sheiks and members of
Anbar's governing body.

Bush spoke warmly about al-Maliki even while expressing frustration over
the slow pace of political progress.

"My message to Maliki is: `You've got a lot of work to do and whatever
decision is made in Washington, D.C., is all aimed at helping you achieve
what is necessary to get the work done.'"

He said he addressed his comments to all the Iraqi leaders at the table
but took al-Malki aside. "You're my friend and ... you've made progress
in your recent meeting and now's the time to get these laws passed," Bush
said he told al-Maliki, referring to a national oil revenue sharing
measure and other legislation. "You've got hard work to do and you know
what? He understands that."

Al-Maliki, speaking before Bush's visit, said he expected Petraeus and
Crocker to give his government a favorable assessment when they report to
Congress.

Virtually all of his war advisers joined Bush in Iraq, the first such
meeting here. They included Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. William
Fallon, the top US commander in the Middle East, National Security
Adviser Stephen Hadley and Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, Bush's "war czar."

It was Bush's third secret trip to Iraq in four years. He slipped
unnoticed out of the White House on Sunday evening and was driven to
Andrews Air Force Base to board his plane. Only one other car accompanied
him. Bush was to have left Monday morning for Australia.

Bush urged Congress to wait until they hear from Crocker and Petraeus
before judging the result of his decision to send 30,000 more troops to
Iraq.

"I urge members of both parties in Congress to listen to what they have
to say," he said. "We shouldn't jump to conclusions until the general and
the ambassador report."

Bush said Monday's visit would have no impact on the mood in Congress. "I
don't think a presidential visit will cause people to vote one way or
another."

Even Republicans are pressuring Bush on troop cuts. Republican Sen. John
Warner surprised the White House by declaring over the summer
congressional break that he wants some US troops to start coming home
from Iraq by Christmas. He said he may support Democratic legislation
ordering withdrawals if Bush refuses to set a return timetable soon.

Anticipating criticism that Bush's trip was a media event to buttress
support for his war strategy, the White House was ready to push back.

"There are some people who might try to deride this trip as a photo
opportunity," said White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino. "We
wholeheartedly disagree."

Hadley said Bush wanted to hear personally from commanders and from
al-Maliki himself.

"There is no substitute for sitting down, looking him in the eye, and
having a conversation with him," Hadley said. "The president felt this is
something he had to do in order to put himself in a position to make some
important decisions."

There are now 162,000 US troops in Iraq, including 30,000 that arrived
since February as part of Bush's revised strategy to provide security so
Iraqi leaders could build a unity government.

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