Most U.S. troops could shift to noncombat roles by 2008 as suggested by a bipartisan panel, if Iraqis can move forward to reconciliation, a top U.S. general said Friday.

In the first open response from the U.S. military to a key report released by the Iraq Study Group earlier this week, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the second highest-ranking U.S. officer in Iraq, said the target is achievable.

"I think that's possible, if, in fact, we have interim steps that are agreed upon, with timelines that basically move us toward reconciliation," he told Pentagon reporters via teleconference system from Baghdad.

Chiarelli listed several steps he thinks as necessary for reconciliation, including setting a date for provincial elections and making critical economic improvements.

However, he insisted that the U.S. military is winning in Iraq, a viewpoint that is not shared by Robert Gates, the Defense Secretary-designate who said the military is not winning.

"Militarily I can say without a doubt that we are winning. We' ve never been defeated on any battlefield, sir, in this conflict, nor will we be," he said.

However, Chiarelli conceded that progress on political and reconstruction fronts has not been fast enough.

In its report, the Iraq Study Group, led by former secretary of state James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, recommends the Bush administration to launch new diplomatic initiative in Mideast and shift most U.S. troops in Iraq to noncombat roles by early 2008, though stopping of a timetable for withdrawal.

Source: Xinhua