Report: U.S. military chief to urge Bush to cut troops in Iraq

Xinhua

The U.S. military chief is expected to call on President George W. Bush to reduce American troops in Iraq next year, a newspaper reported Friday.

    General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is expected to tell Bush privately that maintaining more than 100,000troops of the currently 162,000 in Iraq through 2008 year would severely strain the military, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing military and administration officials.

    The Joint Chiefs have voiced concerns that the Iraq war has compromised the military’s ability to respond to other threats, and wanted to reduce U.S. troops in Iraq by up to half of the 20 combat brigades in the country, the newspaper said.

    The Times said Pace’s recommendation would differ from that being prepared by General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. Petraeus would suggest to Bush in a report on Iraq due in September that Washington maintain high troop levels there for 2008 and beyond.

    Pace’s term as the Joint Chiefs’ chairman will expire at the end of September this year.

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