Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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September 12, 2007

Bush to Address Nation on Iraq Thursday
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=19726AE:A6F02AD83191E160456EF8792BCA106B9574F7DCC14957C0 President expected
to announce plans to withdraw 30,000 US troops from Iraq by middle of
2008





President George W. Bush speaks to Veterans of Foreign Wars, 22 Aug
2007

Army General David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq,
says there are no "magic switches to flip" to achieve reconciliation
in Iraq.

General Petraeus, along with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker,
spoke to reporters Wednesday in Washington. Petraeus said
reconciliation and restoration of services in Iraq is going to be a
long, difficult, painful process. But he said there are indications
that Iraqis have not only the ability but the will to achieve those
goals.

He was not willing to make any predictions about how long U.S. forces
would have to stay there.

President Bush is expected Thursday to publicly announce plans to
withdraw 30,000 U.S troops from Iraq by the middle of 2008. The
proposed withdrawal would reduce the U.S. presence to about 130,000 -
the same as before the "surge" earlier this year aimed at reducing
sectarian violence.

Congressional Democratic leaders have criticized Mr. Bush's plan.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday it is "an insult to the
intelligence of the American people."

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker testified before House and
Senate committees earlier this week. General Petraeus says the troop
increase has led to less violence in Iraq, but he and Crocker
cautioned against a premature withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

Iraq's national security advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told reporters
Wednesday that the number of U.S. troops could be reduced to 100,000
by the end of 2008. He says it would depend on the security threat
within and outside the country, and the readiness level of Iraqi
security forces.



Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.


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