White House Plays Down Iraq Withdrawal Talk

06/26/2006

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Monday played down reports that the United States is planning sharp troop withdrawals from Iraq, beginning with the pullout of two combat brigades in September.

“I would caution very strongly against everybody thinking, ‘Well, they’re going to pull two brigades out,’” White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

“Maybe they will, maybe they won’t,” he said. “It really does depend upon a whole series of things that we cannot at this juncture predict. I would characterize this more in terms of scenario building and we’ll see how it proceeds.”

Snow confirmed that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top military commander in Iraq, met with President Bush on Friday.

Snow refused to disclose what Casey told Bush but said the general has “a number of scenarios in mind for differing situations on the ground.” He said planning would change based on conditions on the ground.

“But I’m certainly not going to announce in advance anything that he may have in mind for the president or that he may be recommending,” Snow said. “Just don’t do that in a time of war.”

The New York Times reported that U.S. has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in Iraq with the number of American combat brigades projected to decrease to five or six from the current level of 14 by the end of 2007.

The first reductions would involve two combat brigades that would rotate out of Iraq in September without being replaced, according to the plan. Combat brigades, which generally have about 3,500 troops, do not make up the bulk of the 127,000-member American force in Iraq.