WASHINGTON, Dec 16: The number of US troops in Iraq, boosted to provide additional security for Thursday’s election, should return to a pre-election ‘baseline’ level by the end of next month or early February, the top general in Iraq said on Friday.

Army Gen George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, was asked in a video-linked news briefing when US troops would be drawn down to their pre-election baseline level, which was about 138,000, from the current level of more than 150,000.

“We should be down to the old baseline there I’d say probably around the end of January, maybe early February,” he said.

But Gen Casey refused to say when the United States would begin drawing troops down beyond this level.

The Bush administration, facing waning public support for the war in Iraq, has been pressed by critics to provide a timetable for withdrawal of troops there.—Reuters