Bush: 8,000 troops in Iraq coming home
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Some 8,000 U.S. troops will be returning home from Iraq without replacement during the next several months, U.S. President George Bush said Tuesday.
"Over the next several months, we will bring home about 3,400 combat support forces -- including aviation personnel, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineers, military police, and logistical support forces," Bush said in remarks prepared for delivery to the National Defense University.
A U.S. marine battalion serving in Anbar province would be redeployed in November and an Army combat brigade is scheduled to leave in February 2009, Bush said.
"This amounts to about 8,000 additional American troops returning home without replacement," Bush said. "And if the progress in Iraq continues to hold, (U.S. Army) General (David) Petraeus and our military leaders believe additional reductions will be possible in the first half of 2009."
Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff made the troop reduction recommendations late last week.
"The progress in Iraq is a credit to the valor of American troops and civilians, the valor of Iraqi forces and the valor of our coalition partners," Bush said.
Weakened Ike still battering Cuba
MIAMI, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A weakened but deadly Hurricane Ike skimmed along Cuba's coast ahead of an expected landfall on the western side of the island, forecasters said.
Eastern Cuba saw storm surges, flooded neighborhoods and destroyed homes left behind from Ike's march Monday, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.
Cuban officials reported four deaths as of late Monday. More than 1.2 million people were evacuated.
Three rivers overflowed in Camaguey, pushing water to 15 feet above normal levels and forcing emergency personnel to use amphibious vehicles to evacuate not only the area's residents but people who tried to escape Ike from the coast.
Ike's center was about 85 miles south-southeast of Havana and moving west at about 13 mph before shifting to a west-northwestly direction Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported. Based on its track, forecasters said they expected the Category 1 storm to enter western Cuba Tuesday before moving into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico Wednesday.
"With no sensationalism, I can say the damages were serious," Luis A. Torres Iribar, president of Guantanamo's civil defense council, said on Cuba's television news show, "Mesa Redonda." "The damages in Baracoa were numerous, especially to homes."
At Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on Cuba's southeastern tip, rain was dying down at mid-morning Monday, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Lamb told CNN by telephone.
"I think we fared pretty well down here," Lamb said.
Poll: White House race deadlocked
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- The race for the White House is virtually a dead heat between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, a Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates.
Among registered voters, 47 percent of respondents said they favored Obama and 46 percent favored McCain, Washington Post/ABC poll results released Tuesday indicated.
Among respondents who are most likely to vote in November, 49 percent said they would vote for McCain, 47 percent for Obama.
Both candidates solidified support during their respective party conventions, but the Arizona Republican entered the campaign's final two months with momentum, the poll indicated. Obama, the U.S. senator from Illinois has about 85 percent of Democrats backing him while 88 percent of Republicans back McCain, the poll indicated.
Pollsters found much of the shift toward McCain is from white women, a demographic McCain's team hoped to reach with the pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. White women shifted from an 8-point preconvention edge for Obama to a 12-point McCain advantage now.
The poll was conducted by telephone between Friday and Sunday among a national sample of 1,133 adults, including 961 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Poll: Independents favoring McCain
PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Republican Party candidate for president John McCain is winning the support of a majority of U.S. independent voters, a Gallup Poll indicated Tuesday.
Poll results released Tuesday indicate independents prefer McCain over Democratic Party nominee for president Barack Obama, 52 percent to 37 percent.
The increase in political independents favoring McCain is the first time since March, when Gallup began tracking voter preferences for the general election, that a majority of independents sided with either major-party candidates, Gallup said. Before now, McCain garnered no more than 48 percent of the independent vote and Obama no better than 46 percent, Gallup said.
Among voters who have no political leanings to either major party, McCain was preferred over Obama by 39 percent of non-leaning independents in the Gallup Daily Tracking poll taken Friday through Sunday. Roughly 40 percent of non-leaning independents said they were undecided.
Gallup Poll Daily tracking results from Friday through Sunday are based on interviews with 2,733 registered voters. The margin of error is 2 percentage points.
Zardari sworn in as Pakistan's president
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Asif Ali Zardari, husband of slain Benazir Bhutto, Tuesday took the oath of office as Pakistani president.
In his oath administered by the country's chief justice, Zardari, who leads the Pakistan People's Party, the main party in the ruling coalition, said he "will strive to preserve the Islamic ideology," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
Those attending included Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, the report said. Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of sheltering Taliban militants who launch attacks across the border.
Zardari, 53, takes over a nuclear-powered country that is wracked by Islamist insurgency, spiraling violence and a deteriorating economy.
CNN reported the new president has little experience in governing. He spent more than 11 years in jail on corruption charges, which he claimed were politically motivated.
His political fortunes rose after Bhutto was assassinated last December at an election rally in Rawalpindi.
Zardari faces a tough political challenge as the other main party in the five-month coalition -- the Pakistan Muslim League-N led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif -- has pulled out over the issue of reinstatement of judges dismissed by former President Pervez Musharraf.
The BBC reported Zaradari's other challenges include dealing with the United States, which has stepped up direct strikes against militant targets in Pakistan's border region.
