US army boss slams plans to reduce troops in Iraq

The top US commander in Iraq will ask President George Bush to wait until as late as September to decide when to bring home more troops than already scheduled.

General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are due to return to Washington from Baghdad in April to report to Congress on how the war-fighting strategy is working and how to proceed on troop-level decisions.

They are expected to testify on April 8-9.

Gen Petraeus has talked in recent weeks about favouring a “period of assessment” after the currently planned troop withdrawals conclude in mid-July.

He has said a pause seems necessary to give a clearer indication of the impact of those troop cuts, on the insurgency and other local conditions, before recommending any more.

Reports in Washington say General Petraeus’ report will ask for a pause that would mean a new assessment of troop levels would not come until mid-August or even September.

A suspension is based on the notion that continuing reductions beyond July at the currently planned pace could lead to an erosion in the still-fragile security gains made over the last several months.

Mr Bush will participate in about two weeks of briefings from all involved before Gen Petraeus and Mr Crocker testify on Capitol Hill.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said recently that he also favours a suspension in the drawdown, after hoping earlier than the second half of the year could take the US presence in Iraq to around 10 brigades.

Currently about 158,000 US troops are in Iraq.