[NYTr] Iraq: Another 'hint' from the Liar-In-Chief

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AFP - Sep 3, 2007
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/070903191005.db9qqj2h.html

Bush hints at US troop reduction in Iraq

AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFP) - President George W. Bush said during a
surprise visit to Iraq on Monday that a reduction in US troops in the
war-ravaged nation was possible, as he prepared for a showdown with
Congress.

But he insisted that combat force levels would be decided based on the
recommendations of his commanders in Iraq, and not by "nervous"
politicians in the Democratic-led US Congress.

Bush commented about a possible drawdown after a meeting of his "war
council" with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders
just days before US commander General David Petraeus and US Ambassador
Ryan Crocker report to Congress on the progress of the troop "surge"
strategy.

"General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker tell me if the kind of success
we are now seeing continues, it is possible to maintain the same level
of security with fewer American forces," Bush said, referring to
headway the American military says it has made in the restive province
of Anbar.

"I urge members of Congress to listen to what (Petraeus and Crocker)
have to say," he said.

Bush's trip coincided with the withdrawal of British troops from their
last base in the southern city of Basra amid tensions between
Washington and its top ally Britain over their policy in Iraq.

"This is the last big gathering of the president's military advisors
and the Iraqi leadership before the president decides on the way
forward," said Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman.

The White House is to make a formal report to Congress by September 15
aimed at persuading US lawmakers to continue funding the Iraq war, four
and a half years since the US-led invasion of 2003.

Bush, who is on his way to Australia for an Asia-Pacific regional
summit, arrived at the desert air base of Al-Asad in Anbar along with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and national security adviser
Stephen Hadley.

Waiting for him were US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, General Peter
Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral William
Fallon, the commander of US forces in the Middle East, and Petraeus,
the top US commander in Iraq.

"He's assembled essentially his war council here and they are all
meeting with Iraqi leaders to discuss the way forward," Morrell said.
"This is very much a decisional meeting. This meeting will put him much
closer to a decision if he hasn't made one yet."

On his first visit to Iraq since June 2006 and his third since the
invasion, Bush was also meeting tribal sheikhs from Anbar province who
have given his administration hopes of a turnaround in the deadly Sunni
insurgency unleashed after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

Opposition Democrats who control the House of Representatives and
Senate have been pushing for months to force a deadline for US troops
to leave.

But Bush and his generals have argued for time to make the troop surge
work after the US military deployed 28,500 extra soldiers in February
to try to end the violence.

In a later address to raucously cheering Marines, Bush rejected the
intensifying pressure from Congress and reiterated his controversial
stand that the war in Iraq is a life-or-death struggle against Al-Qaeda
extremists.

"Those decisions 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," the president
said.

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

Traveling to Anbar rather than Baghdad gave Bush an opportunity to
highlight the dramatic shift in sentiment in the province, where former
Sunni insurgents have joined with US forces to fight Al-Qaeda.

But security officials said that shortly before his arrival, two car
bombs went off in Anbar's provincial capital Ramadi, killing four
people and wounding 10 and in Baghdad police found 15 corpses of men
shot dead.

His visit came just hours after 500 British troops slipped out of their
last base in Basra under cover of darkness, leaving behind a city in
the grip of a brutal militia turf war.

Iraqi soldiers hoisted the Iraqi flag and posted guards outside the
palace complex, which General Mohan Farhad, commander of Basra military
operations, said would remain under Iraqi military control until Maliki
decides its fate.

The evacuation of troops from Saddam Hussein's former palace on the
banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway to a desert air base west of Basra
paves the way for a full British handover of security in the region to
Iraqi authorities, which could take place in the autumn.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown stressed that British forces stood ready to
"re-intervene" if the security situation demanded, telling BBC radio:
"This is a pre-planned and this is an organized move."

Basra residents cheered the withdrawal, despite warnings the city could
descend further into chaos.

"We are happy to be rid of the British. They were harassing us in the
streets and raided our houses and arrested our sons. We now want to see
them out of greater Basra," said army officer Sadun Hami.

The United States and Britain have been at odds over Iraq recently,
with General Jack Keane, a former vice-chief of staff of the US Army,
saying last month there was "frustration" in Washington at the
deteriorating security situation in Basra.

On Saturday, General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British army
during the invasion, launched a fierce attack on Washington, branding
its post-invasion policy "intellectually bankrupt."

There are about 5,500 British troops in Iraq, most of whom are based in
and around Basra, although that number is set to drop to around 5,000
by the end of the year.