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United States to cut troops to 100,000 by late 2008

15 September 2007 12:25 (UTC +04:00)

The Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that the U.S. troops in Iraq might be cut to about 100,000 by the end of 2008.
"I can tell you what my hope is. My hope is that the situation continues to develop, as it has, for the last several months, as we anticipate it will for the next several months, through the end of the year."
President George W. Bush on Thursday approved Petraeusâ€™ plan to cut the size of the US force in Iraq by five brigades by mid July, with the first army brigade leaving Iraq in December.
President George W. Bush promised he would follow the advice of General David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and withdraw about 5,700 U.S. troops by the end of the year and about 21,500 by next July.
The generalâ€™s cuts would effectively end the surge in US forces begun in February by reducing US combat power from 20 combat brigades to 15.
The United States have 168,000 troops in Iraq, the highest level of the war. /APA-Economics/