Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have called on President George W. Bush to begin pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq at the beginning of next year.

In a letter to Bush released on Monday, the Democratic lawmakers said they backed a plan for the phased redeployment of American troops in Iraq.

They demanded that Bush begin withdrawing troops at the beginning of next year and that remaining soldiers limit their activities to counterterrorism or helping training Iraqi security forces.

"Iraqi political leaders must be informed that American patience, blood and treasure are not unlimited," the Democrats wrote.

"In the interests of American national security, our troops, and our taxpayers, the open-ended commitment in Iraq that you have embraced cannot and should not be sustained," they said.

The lawmakers said in the letter dated July 30 that the administration lacks a coherent strategy to stabilize Iraq and achieve victory, and there has been virtually no diplomatic effort to resolve sectarian differences, no regional effort to establish a broader security framework and no attempt to revive a struggling reconstruction effort.

U.S. military officials had hoped to begin withdrawing troops by the end of the year, but Pentagon officials said the United States would increase the number of troops in Iraq to as many as 135,000 from the current 130,000, amid escalating sectarian violence around Baghdad.

Bush has said he would make decisions about U.S. troop levels in Iraq based on recommendations by American commanders in Iraq.

Source: Xinhua