White House plays down Iraq withdrawal talk

WASHINGTON - The White House on Monday played down reports that the United States is planning sharp troop withdrawals from Iraq, beginning with the pullout of two combat brigades in September.

"I would caution very strongly against everybody thinking, `Well, they're going to pull two brigades out,'" White House press secretary Tony Snow said.

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't," he said. "It really does depend upon a whole series of things that we cannot at this juncture predict. I would characterize this more in terms of scenario building and we'll see how it proceeds."

Snow confirmed that Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top military commander in Iraq, met with
President Bush on Friday.

Snow refused to disclose what Casey told Bush but said the general has "a number of scenarios in mind for differing situations on the ground." He said planning would change based on conditions on the ground.

"But I'm certainly not going to announce in advance anything that he may have in mind for the president or that he may be recommending," Snow said. "Just don't do that in a time of war."

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I have no problem with the withdrawal of troops, after all I want them to come back to inspite of what you liberals might think. The difference is that I want our troops to complete the mission, not tuck tail and run, like Murtha and Kerry would have us do. The President has said multiple times that the conditions on the ground would determine when our troops come home, what don't you liberals get, hell the Iraqis want us there. They know as we do that if we leave to early it would be a disastrous for the Iraqi people. We must stay the course, not do an about face when things get hard.