(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-21 10:35

WASHINGTON -- US military officials are narrowing the range of Iraq strategy options and appear to be focusing on reducing the US combat role in 2008 while increasing training of Iraqi forces, a senior military official said on Monday.

In this image released by the US Army, soldiers of 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, out of Fort Lewis, Washington, pull security while on patrol in Baqouba, Iraq, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad Thursday, March 15, 2007. [AP]

The military has not yet developed a plan for a substantial withdrawal of forces next year. But officials are laying the groundwork for possible overtures to Turkey and Jordan on using their territory to move some troops and equipment out of Iraq, the official said. The main exit would remain Kuwait, but additional routes would make it easier and more secure for US troops leaving western and northern Iraq.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because internal deliberations are ongoing, emphasized that the discussions do not prejudge decisions yet to be made by President Bush. Those decisions include how long to maintain the current US troop buildup and when to make the transition to a larger Iraqi combat role.

It is widely anticipated that the five extra Army brigades that were sent to the Baghdad area this year will be withdrawn by late next summer. But it is far less clear whether the Bush administration will follow that immediately with additional drawdowns, as many Democrats in Congress are advocating.

Bush has mentioned publicly that he likes the idea, first proposed late last year by the Iraq Study Group, of switching the emphasis of US military efforts from mainly combat to mainly support roles. But he also has said that this should not happen until Baghdad in particular is stable enough to enable Iraqi political leaders to make hard choices about reconciling rival interests among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

There are now 162,000 US troops in Iraq, of which 30,000 have arrived since February as part of Bush's revised strategy to stabilize Baghdad and to push Iraqi leaders to build a government of national unity.

Military efforts to stabilize the country have made strides in recent months, but political progress has lagged.

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