Gates Disagrees With Bush, Petraeus On Iraq Troop Drawdown

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates appeared to take issue with President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus Thursday on the question of when the U.S. could consider further pullout of military troops in Iraq.

Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Gates was optimistic about deeper reductions in troop levels this year if conditions permit, at the same time warning that U.S. military presence needed to be intensified in Afghanistan.

Bush had just earlier accepted Petraeus'recommendations on the proposed drawdown of troops, saying the general "will have all the time he needs".

But Gates told members of the Senate committee that there would be a "brief pause for consolidation and evaluation" post July, stressing at the same time, that he no longer expects the head count to fall below 100,000 by the year's end.

Agence France-Presse reported that Gates' testimony and that of Admiral William Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could hint of unspoken tension between the military and the Bush administration on the scope and timeline of the drawdown .

The scheduled withdrawal of five surge brigades is expected to reduce U.S. presence from the current 160,000 troops to about 140,000 by July. And, while Gen. Petraeus declined to comment on whether troops levels would be trimmed further if conditions improved, Gates is convinced that Petraeus would be willing to let go of troops if the situation is ideal.

"If the conditions continue to improve in Iraq, as we have seen them improve for the last 14 or 15 months, then we believe the circumstances are in place for him (Petraeus) to be able to recommend continuing drawdowns," Gates said in an AFP report.

Mullen, for his part, told lawmakers that while Iraq is a pressing challenge, other issues, like the appeal of General Dan McNeill, Commander of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, for roughly 10,000 more troops to combat the Taliban, have yet to be addressed.

The U.S. has recently deployed 3,500 additional marines in Afghanistan to help fill growing gaps in command requirements.