U.S. President George W. Bush will endorse in a prime-time national TV speech Thursday a limited pullback of some 30,000 soldiers from Iraq while envisioning a long-term presence there.
During the speech, which is scheduled at 9:01 p.m. Thursday (1: 01 GMT Friday), Bush is also expected to endorse the recommendation of the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, that the U.S. military can begin pulling some 30,000 troops from Iraq, according to pre-released excerpts of the speech.
"Because of the measure of success we are seeing in Iraq, we can begin seeing troops come home," Bush was expected to tell the nation.
"Some say the gains we are making in Iraq come too late. They are mistaken. It is never too late to deal a blow to Al-Qaida. It is never too late to advance freedom. And it is never too late to support our troops in a fight they can win," he was to add.
At the same time, the president will likely compare Iraq to the U.S. deployment on the Korean peninsula, where U.S. troops have stationed for half a century.
He will make it clear that U.S. forces will surely remain in Iraq after his presidency, which ends January 2009.
The president is also expected to emphasize what his administration calls "bottom-up" political progress in Iraq.
He is expected to argue that grass-roots efforts by Iraqis are "laying the groundwork for national reconciliation" but there is a "long haul and tough work ahead."
In January, Bush ordered nearly 30,000 additional troops to Iraq -- a move known as "the surge" -- in an effort to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces amid rampant sectarian and insurgent warfare.
The new announcement will defacto bring U.S. troop levels in Iraq back to the pre-surge level of some 135,000.
Iraq war critic Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, will deliver the Democratic response after Bush's speech.
Former Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate, has purchased two minutes of advertising time on MSNBC immediately following Bush's speech.
Democrats, including presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, slammed Bush's new decision.
"The reduction to a pre-surge level is not a change in course," said Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Michigan.
"It's something which will happen anyway, just because of the rotation of our troops and the limit of 15 months for that rotation," he said.
Besides Democrats, Bush will be facing a public dissatisfied with his leadership, as a number of recent polls show.
Source: Xinhua
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