By NNN-PTI
Washington : Notwithstanding political pressure for a change of course in Iraq, the White House hopes to keep in place its existing military strategy and troop levels there after a mid-September report by a top commander and the US Ambassador to the war-torn country, a media report here said.
White House officials said privately that they are not contemplating making major shifts before early next year, ‘The Washington Post’ reported.
They said that next month’s report by top US military commander in Iraq David H Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C Crocker is likely to highlight what they see as significant improvements in security in that country over the past year and that they expect President George W Bush to assert that now is not the time to dramatically change approaches, according to the daily.
One senior White House official expressed the prevailing mood, saying he does not expect a “wholesale change in plans” next month, it said.
But White House officials said they do expect Petraeus and Bush to begin outlining what a “post-surge” strategy might look like, the paper reported.
They said the key date is April 2008, when the military will have to begin bringing units home unless it is willing to extend troop rotations from 15 to 18 months, it said.
Another senior official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he expects the US presence to return to pre-buildup levels of 15 combat brigades and about 130,000 troops a year from now, down from about 160,000, the daily reported.