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Al-Rubaie: Most troops out by mid-2008

Violence leaves at least 13 dead around Iraq

A British soldier secures an area in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday.

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(CNN) -- The majority of the U.S.-led multinational forces will most likely have left Iraq by mid-2008, and a gradual reduction in forces will begin at the end of this year, Iraq's national security adviser predicted Sunday.

But U.S. officials, including President Bush, declined -- as they have in the past -- to make any predictions regarding U.S. troop levels in Iraq or whether the death Wednesday of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may hasten America's departure.

"I believe by the end of this year the number of the multinational forces will be probably less than 100,000 in this country, and by the end of next year most of the multinational forces will have gone home," Mowaffak al-Rubaie said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Violence continued in Iraq on Sunday, with various attacks leaving at least 13 people dead.

Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. military official in Iraq, will be among national security team members and Cabinet members meeting with Bush this week at Maryland's Camp David to discuss the situation in Iraq.

Earlier this week, Bush said Monday's meeting -- which was planned before al-Zarqawi died in a U.S. airstrike -- will focus on "how best to deploy America's resources in Iraq and achieve our shared goal of an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself."

Bush said Samir al-Sumaidie, Iraq's new ambassador to the United States, will join the discussion on Tuesday, and there will be a teleconferenced discussion with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and members of his Cabinet.

On "Fox News Sunday," Casey said it is not likely a decision to add or cut troops in Iraq will be made.

"But as I've said all along, I constantly evaluate the situation," he said. "And if I think I need more, I'll ask for more. If I think I need less, I'll tell the president I need less."

He would not divulge what his assessment to the president will include.

Paul Bremer, former U.S. administrator in Iraq, told ABC's "This Week" there should be no deadlines for troop withdrawal.

"I think that's a mistake," he said. "That only encourages the terrorists to continue their fighting."

The challenge that faces the coalition now is creating a strategy that says "here is how we intend, in a period of time, to defeat the insurgency."

"Whether there should be more troops there ... I think it's the wrong question," he said. "I think the question is: What's the strategy to defeat the insurgency? It may be more [troops]. It may not be more. It may be different kinds of troops. It may be redeploying them to different areas."

But the U.S. military can't maintain the current pace of deployment, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey told NBC's "Meet the Press."

If the United States had 10 years, he said, there would be a 99 percent probability "we'll achieve our objective, but I don't think we've got that much time," he said. "We've got to draw down and pretty soon -- maybe 50,000 to 100,000 troops by next summer; otherwise we risk breaking the force."

Bush has indicated he'd like to get American troops out as soon as possible but has said withdrawing troops depends on victory in Iraq, or "a country that can sustain itself, govern itself and defend itself."

Other developments

On Sunday, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and six were wounded when a suicide car bomb exploded at an Iraqi Army checkpoint in northwest Baquba, an official with the Diyala joint coordination center said.

Sunday evening, in another section of Baquba, gunmen opened fire at a food store, killing four civilians, police said. Three of the dead were brothers, police said.

A roadside bombing Sunday afternoon in the center of Baghdad killed six people and wounded 45 others, mostly civilians.

Some 230 detainees were released Sunday from three Iraqi prisons as part of a national reconciliation plan announced last week by Iraq's new prime minister, Deputy Justice Minister Bosho Ibrahim Ali said. In all, about 2,500 Iraqi prisoners will be released as part of the plan laid out by new Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to placate Sunni factions. Sunday's releases were the second group.

The senior Marine sergeant in charge during an incident in Haditha, Iraq, last November, claims there was no massacre of civilians and there was no wrongdoing on the Marines' part, his attorney told CNN. (Full story)

A British soldier was wounded on Sunday during an exchange of fire between British forces and insurgents in the southeastern Iraqi city of Amara, a British military spokesman said.

In a statement posted on an Islamist Web site on Sunday, al Qaeda in Iraq threatened "large-scale operations that will shake the enemy and rob them of sleep." Iraqi and U.S. officials, however, dismissed the threats as "empty" and "expected" in the wake of terrorist al-Zarqawi's death. (Full story)

CNN's Jennifer Deaton, Cal Perry and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

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