The
White House says President George Bush has decided to withdraw about eight
thousand U.S. troops from Iraq by next February and that he will announce the
plan in a speech Tuesday in Washington.
A transcript of that speech was released on Monday.
In the prepared remarks, Mr. Bush says the U.S. military will bring home
three-thousand-400 combat support forces from Iraq in the next few months.
He also says a Marine battalion will leave Iraq's Anbar province by November
and an army combat brigade will withdraw from Iraq in February.
Mr. Bush says a Marine battalion that was due to be sent to Iraq in November
will instead go to Afghanistan and an army combat brigade will follow in
January.
President Bush's announcements on troop levels are in line with recommendations
he received from his top defense advisers last week.