April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

WASHINGTON, April 10: US President George W. Bush said in an interview out Thursday that he plans to complete a limited US troop withdrawal from Iraq by July, then freeze the draw-down for a six-week review of the war effort.

Bush told the Weekly Standard that he agreed with the top US commander in Iraq, Army General David Petraeus, that the US should cut combat troops from 20 brigades to 15 by July, then “wait and see” before any more go home.

“David Petraeus is right, we can go down to 15,” but after that Petraeus “wants to wait and see. And I strongly support that. And therefore [I] won’t commit beyond July,” Bush told the magazine, which strongly supports the war.

With nearly two out of three Americans opposing the conflict, Bush was to deliver a 15-20 statement at 11:30 am (1530 GMT) to lay out his strategy -- which is certain to leave the vastly unpopular war to his successor.

“Are we good enough to take the 20 out to 15? The answer is yes. Will (we) ... take out any more beyond that? And my answer is no. I’m not going to say that. I’m going to say that I agree with David, that we ought to take a look,”he said.

Bush, who said he hoped to draw US force levels down further, strongly objected to the use of the word “pause” that has become popular to describe the halt in troop withdrawals.

“’Pause’ is the wrong word — because I’m going to explain why -- you don’t pause in the middle of a war; you continue to conduct war, you assess. And do I hope that we can continue ‘return on success?’ Yes, I do hope so. Do I guarantee it? No, I don’t,” he said.

Bush also said that the limited draw-down meant that active duty US soldiers would see their tours in Iraq cut from 15 months to one year, which he said would help “handle this issue of stress” on the US armed forces.

But “the biggest stress would be defeat,” he said.

“Our troops want to win in Iraq, and we can see that desire in the gains in recruiting and retention since the surge began. And the surest way to depress morale and weaken the force would be to lose in Iraq,” he said.

“And we’re headed toward a day when the Iraqis are going to be able to manage their own affairs from a security perspective. But we’re not there yet,”said the US president, whose terms ends in January 2009.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed that Bush would embrace the blueprint detailed by Petraeus over two days of contentious testimony before the US Congress and confirmed that the draw-down would freeze for 45 days.

“The president will accept General Petraeus’s recommendation that we continue to bring troops home as planned, going down from 20 to 15 brigades, and then there will be a very brief period of assessment and consolidation before more recommendations on drawdowns — based on conditions on the ground — are announced,” she said. —AFP