The Pentagon is planning to withdraw up to a third of the 160,000 US troops in Iraq by the end of next year, barring serious deterioration of security.
The first three of the 18 combat brigades in the country could be pulled out early next year if the 15 December parliamentary elections go relatively smoothly. The speed of the pull-out would depend on whether newly trained Iraqi forces can shoulder a greater responsibility for security.
The disclosure, in The Washington Post, is further proof that despite President George Bush's insistence that the US will "stay the course" in Iraq, growing domestic opposition to the war is making a substantial force reduction all but inevitable.
Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, said yesterday that US forces were "unlikely to be needed in their present numbers for all that much longer ".
Other members of the US-led coalition, including Britain, Italy and South Korea, have also indicated that they intend to reduce their contingents in 2006. There are 22,000 non-US coalition troops in Iraq, 8,500 of them British.
The continuing presence of US forces has become the central element in the bitter national debate over the war, especially after last week's call by John Murtha, the veteran Democratic congressman, former US Marine, and military hawk, that US forces be withdrawn without delay.
Their presence had become part of the problem in Iraq, not part of the solution, an emotional Mr Murtha told reporters. He made clear he had a six-month timeframe in mind, but his plea stunned the White House, and provoked a storm on Capitol Hill. Only a tiny anti-war fringe in Congress favours an immediate, unconditional US departure from Iraq, and a House resolution to that effect was defeated by 403-3. But with the US death toll above 2,100 and discontent at Mr Bush's handling of the war increasing daily, both Democrats and Republicans are leaving no doubt that something must be done, and soon.
Last week's Senate resolution, passed by a bi-partisan 79-19 majority, rejected a fixed timetable for withdrawal, but demanded a fuller, regular accounting from the White House on how it intended to "complete the mission" in Iraq. The senators insisted that 2006 must be a year of " significant transition", when Iraqi forces take the lead in ensuring security. This should "create the conditions" for a phased " redeployment", withdrawal of US troops.
