Gen. Petraeus suggests troop reduction

WASHINGTON – Gen. David Petraeus told Congress on Monday he envisions the withdrawal of roughly 30,000 U.S. combat troops from Iraq by next summer.\nIn long-awaited testimony, the commanding general of the war said last winter’s buildup in U.S. troops had met its military objectives “in large measure.”\nAs a result, he told a congressional hearing and a nationwide television audience, “I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level ... by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains we have fought so hard to achieve.”\nTestifying in a military uniform bearing four general’s stars and a chestful of medals, Petraeus said he had already provided his views to the military chain of command.\nRebutting charges that he was merely doing the White House’s bidding, he said firmly, “I wrote this testimony myself. It has not been cleared by nor shared with anyone in the Pentagon, the White House or the Congress.”\nUsing charts and graphs to illustrate his points, Petraeus conceded that the military gains have been uneven in the months since President Bush ordered an additional 30,000 troops to the war last winter.\nBut he also said that there has been an overall decline in violence and said, “the level of security incidents has delined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the level of incidents in the past two weeks the lowest since June of 2006.”\nPetraeus also said the Iraqi military is slowly gaining competence and gradually “taking on more responsibility for their security.”