Report: General Petraeus urging patience on Iraq troop levels

Washington - US President George W Bush's top commander in Iraq is expected to tell Congress in testimony Monday that major moves to cut the number of US troops in Iraq should wait a few more months.

US Army General David Petraeus is the architect of this year's so-called surge, a hike in US troop strength by some 25,000 to more than 160,000 in Iraq. He is to deliver a much-anticipated assessment of security and political progress in Iraq beginning Monday.

Petraeus has suggested that small numbers of US troops could begin to go home starting in December, but larger cuts should wait, The New York Times reported Monday, citing US military sources.

His surge, which only reached full strength during the summer, has produced some improvements in security in parts of Iraq - an achievement highly touted by the Bush administration - but hoped-for political progress among Iraqi factions has been elusive.

'General Petraeus has made recommendations on the pace by which the surge forces can run their course, and he will explain to Congress his recommendation on when the withdrawals without replacement can begin, based on certain assumptions about the situation on the ground,' an unnamed officer with knowledge of the recommendations was quoted as saying by the Times.

'He has also argued that recommendations on reductions below the pre-surge force levels would be premature at this time, and that recommendations on such adjustments should wait until March 2008.'

Petraeus' testimony and written report along with that of Ryan Crocker, US ambassador in Baghdad, are widely seen as the most politically important among an ongoing series of assessments in Washington of the situation in Iraq.