General predicts large U.S. troop return

TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 25 (UPI) -- A senior U.S. general says he is confident Iraq will reach self-sufficiency to allow for a large-scale withdrawal of U.S. troops within the next year.

Maj.-Gen. Douglas Lute, director of operations at U.S. Central Command, said the planned reductions are part of a push by Gen. John Abizaid, commander of all U.S. troops in the region, to put the burden of defending Iraq on Iraqi forces.

Lute told the Financial Times planners believe "the political process will play out, that we will see a constitution, that we will see, by some political machinations, the Sunnis brought into the process and we will proceed to national elections in December."

Last week, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, U.S. Army chief of staff, said his office was planning for the possibility that troop levels could be maintained until 2009, but Lute said such a worst-case scenario was unlikely.

Gen. George Casey, commander of allied forces in Iraq, made similar comments last month on reductions that could come by early next year, but they were quickly played down by the White House.