MR. JOHNDROE: You know what, I am not going to negotiate from the podium. I'm going to let the discussions take place, in this case, between Secretary Rice and senior Iraqis today; in other cases, between various U.S. officials and Iraqi officials. So I'll stay away from details.
The goal that both the United States and Iraq have is that Iraqi security forces are able to take more of the lead in combat missions, and the United States forces can move into an overwatch role. That has been our goal all along. The President stated that in January of '07, that we want to get to a point where, after sending more troops in, we could begin to pull more troops out. Five brigade combat teams have already come out. We'll wait to hear from General Petraeus in September on his additional recommendations, and we'll see where this goes. Mike.
seen at 09:00, 21 August
in
Whitehouse Press Briefings.
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