BAGHDAD, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The number of U.S. combat brigades in Iraq will be reduced from 15 to 14 about six weeks earlier than planned, Pentagon officials say.
"The hope is they can come home before Christmas," Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said of the decision by Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of Central Command overseeing U.S. forces in the Middle East and Central Asia.