White House downplays troop-reduction plan

WASHINGTON — The White House confirmed Monday that its top general in Iraq has drafted a plan to start bringing home U.S. troops this fall, then quickly tried to downplay the news.

Gen. George Casey has drawn up plans to bring home about 7,000 U.S. troops starting in September and more than half the U.S. combat strength in Iraq by the end of 2007, White House aides said Monday.

That would total roughly 28,000 out of the 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now, administration officials said, though the exact troop level envisioned by Casey's plan was unclear, because it also would include an unspecified number of support troops.

The plan would seem like good news for a war-battered president who has long given a stock answer to the question of when U.S. troops can start coming home: It's up to Casey.

But instead of embracing the idea publicly, Bush insisted it wasn't a formal recommendation at all. Spokesman Tony Snow said it was merely one of several scenarios Casey is considering. "Maybe they will, maybe they won't" come home, Snow said.

Administration officials believe Casey has a good chance of meeting the 2006 goal — rather modest as it is — involving not even 10 percent of the U.S. troops there now.

But they also believe one of the worst things Bush could do is raise expectations of an autumn pullout, only to abandon it in the face of rising violence.

Bush insisted that any recommendation from Casey would be based on conditions on the ground, as well as input from the new Iraqi government. "Whatever recommendation he makes, it will be aimed toward achieving victory," Bush said.

Democrats cried foul, saying Casey's September time frame would put a troop drawdown announcement just weeks ahead of a critical congressional election where Republicans are fearful of being punished for the war in Iraq.

"We don't need a September or October surprise, with the president and Republicans proclaiming victory and announcing troop redeployments just in time for the midterm elections," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Under Casey's plan, the troop reduction this year would come from bringing home two combat brigades at the end of their rotation, roughly 3,500 troops each, and not sending in their replacements. Then he would aim to cut another 21,000 or so troops by the end of 2007, administration officials said.

But it is not clear from Casey's plan exactly how many troops would be left in Iraq at the end of 2007. All of those combat troops are backed up by logistics, intelligence, training and other units, but Pentagon officials have warned some of those units would stay behind to assist the new Iraqi security forces.

Other developments

• Bombs killed at least 40 people at markets in two Iraqi cities Monday.

The deadliest attack was a bicycle bombing in Baqouba, the Sunni insurgent stronghold 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The bombing killed at least 25 and wounded 33. Minutes earlier, a blast killed at least 15 people and wounded 56 in Hillah, a mainly Shiite city 65 miles south of the capital.

• Police reports from across the country listed at least 22 other Iraqi deaths Monday, victims of sectarian murders or bomb and shooting attacks.

• The U.S. military said a Marine died of wounds suffered in combat in Anbar province.

• Key Iraqi lawmakers said seven Sunni Arab insurgent groups offered the government a conditional truce. Despite the fresh opening between the government and the militant organizations — which do not include al-Qaida or Islamic terror groups — a top Iraqi commander said Baghdad's forces would not be ready to keep the peace for at least a year in Anbar province, the insurgent heartland.

• Russia's Foreign Ministry on Monday confirmed the death of Russian hostages who worked at its embassy in Iraq, a day after an al-Qaida linked group said it had killed the four captives.

The group, the Mujahedeen Shura Council, had posted a video on a Web site that showed the killing of three of four Russian workers who were kidnapped June 3. A statement from the group said the fourth was also slain.

• Forensics experts unearthing the skeletons of Saddam Hussein's alleged victims and have found an unexpected wealth of identification cards in mass graves, investigators said Monday. As the ousted leader's first trial winds down, the investigators say the discovery of the ID cards has been a pivotal development in a new case against Saddam — the 1980s military campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 Kurds.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.