Petraeus rejects leaving Iraq fast

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq says he'd consider bringing a few thousand soldiers home soon. We wouldn't be talking about troop reduction if the surge hadn't worked, said The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. military is the only source saying viol

Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said yesterday that he would be willing to consider withdrawing a brigade of about 4,000 soldiers early next year. But Petraeus said any further reduction from the current force of 130,000 could only be made if security conditions in Iraq improve.

The remarks came as Petraeus prepares to make a highly anticipated progress report next week. Several congressional studies released recently have said that Iraq’s army and its government have fallen short of most benchmarks set to measure their progress.

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