Administration reportedly studying Iraq troop-reduction

Story Highlights

• Force could drop to 100,000 next year, New York Times reports
• Troop level due to reach 160,000 this June as increase is completed
• Strategic planning team considering variety of scenarios
• Any withdrawal would be gradual, No. 2 U.S. commander says

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration could reduce U.S. combat forces in Iraq to about 100,000 next year under various options being weighed, according to a report published Saturday that quotes senior administration officials.

However, a senior administration official who read The New York Times article told CNN, "I'm not aware of any such discussions."

"It makes sense that people would be thinking about all sorts of different scenarios," given that the United States is trying to improve security in the Middle East nation, the official said.

The topic of the U.S. future in Iraq is especially appropriate this week.

Under the $120 billion war-funding bill President Bush signed into law Friday, the Iraqi government must meet certain benchmarks to continue receiving reconstruction funding -- although Bush can allow waivers. (Full story)

The president must make progress reports to Congress in July and September, the latter to be presented by the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker.

In a Times interview also published Saturday, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, predicted that any U.S. troop pullback won't be rapid.

"We'll do this in a very deliberate and slow way," he said. "I call this thinning the lines. We'll do it extremely slowly. We won't take everybody out at once."

The last of five U.S. brigades ordered to the war-torn country to bolster the American contingent won't be in place until June. That will boost the number of American combat troops there from 146,000 to about 160,000.

Although the Times story mentions a 50 percent reduction in troops by sometime in 2008, that actually refers to the number of combat brigades, which would decrease from 20 to 10, said CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry.

Focus on training Iraqis, fighting al Qaeda

According to the Times, any remaining U.S. troops in Iraq would focus on training Iraqi soldiers and fighting al Qaeda militants.

"Still, there is no indication that Mr. Bush is preparing to call an early end to the current troop increase, and one reason officials are talking about their long-range strategy may be to blunt pressure from members of Congress, including some Republicans who are pushing for a more rapid troop reduction," the Times says.

The officials interviewed by the Times declined to be quoted for attribution because they were discussing internal deliberations that they expected to evolve over several months, the newspaper explains.

Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino told CNN on Saturday that the administration would like to cut troop levels, but that will depend on what happens on the ground and how military commanders assess security conditions.

It's too early to have serious discussions about changes in troop levels, Perino said, because "the reinforcements are not even all in Iraq yet."

The purpose of the reinforcements is to help the Iraqis create the conditions that would allow U.S. troops to start coming home, she added.

"We, of course, would like to be in a position to bring down troop levels, but certain conditions, as assessed by senior military advisers and commanders on the ground, need to be met to warrant that," Perino said.

A person directly involved with the Joint Campaign Plan Redesign Team, which is working on the next military strategy in Iraq, has told CNN that the group foresees no additional major troop reductions until January 2009. The team will make recommendations to Petraeus and Crocker.

The strategy is a "work in progress," the person said, and is being developed away from the political pressures of Washington.

On Thursday the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said U.S. military planners are examining whether the American strategy in Iraq needs to shift. They have not yet recommended any changes, Gen. Peter Pace said.

"They're asking their staffs to take a look at the various lines of operation -- the security, governance, economics -- and do an assessment of where the plan said they should be," Pace said.

CNN's Elaine Quijano, Jamie McIntyre and Deb Krajnak contributed to this report.

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