Rice hints US may reduce Iraq presence

THE United States may not need the number of troops it has in Iraq “all that much longer”, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, amid reports the Pentagon may pull back three combat brigades.

With political pressure building on US President George W Bush to shift course in Iraq, US officials are trying to reassure Americans that sufficient progress is being made in training Iraqi forces to possibly permit some US troops to leave.

“I suspect that American forces are not going to be needed in the numbers that they’re there for all that much longer, because Iraqis are continuing to make progress in function, not just in numbers, but in their capabilities to do certain functions,” Ms Rice told CNN.