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| Bush pledges Iraq troop reduction |
| US President George W Bush has made a televised address backing a limited withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 14-September-2007
1:13:13 AM |
| Mr Bush said 5,700 personnel would be home by Christmas, and expected thousands more to return by July 2008.
He said he had accepted the advice of US commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, who gave a progress report to Congress earlier this week.
The plan would take troop numbers back to their level before Mr Bush ordered a "surge" at the start of this year.
The Democrats had called for a change of course, accusing the president of giving no plan on how to end the war.
And, says the BBC's Justin Webb in Washington, they reacted to this speech with unusually strong condemnation. One presidential candidate, Joe Biden, called it shameful and bizarre.
Mr Bush's speech followed the news that a key Sunni ally of the US had been killed in Iraq.
In his primetime televised address, President Bush announced plans to reduce US troops by roughly 30,000 by next summer, if certain conditions were met.
"The more successful we are, the more American troops can return home," he said.
He argued that the gradual pull-out plan bridges the gap between the people who want to bring troops home, and those who believe success in Iraq is essential to US security.
"[The strategy] makes it possible, for the first time in years, for people who have been on opposite sides of this difficult debate to come together."
Addressing the critics of the war, he said: "It is never too late to deal a blow to al-Qaeda. It is never too late to advance freedom. And it is never too late to support our troops in a fight they can win."
Among the key points of Mr Bush's speech were:
Troop reductions to start this month with 5,700 fewer personnel in Iraq by Christmas, and the number of combat brigades to fall from 20 to 15 by July 2008
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