US to address differences over Iraq force levels

WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) Under pressure to withdraw troops from Iraq, the White House this week will try to iron out differences among top US officials over how large a force the US military can sustain into next year, a key Republican senator said today.

Sen. John Warner of Virginia, a leading Republican voice on military affairs, said discussions would include the top US commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and focus on growing strains on the US military by the continued deployment of more than 150,000 troops in Iraq.

Two questions due to be addressed are how the large US deployment is impacting America's all-volunteer military structure and whether the United States can respond fully to potential troubles elsewhere in the world, particularly with ground forces, he said.

''Clearly, we have a problem and we'd better solve it,'' said Warner, who called on President George W Bush last week to begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq to pressure Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki into making progress toward political reconciliation between Iraq's religious and ethnic sects.

''This week, I have learned, the Department of Defense and our field commanders in Iraq ... are going to sit down and communicate with the White House team and reconcile such difference of views and approaches as they have,'' Warner told NBC's ''Meet the Press.'' ''The team in Iraq wanted to stay there with the full force as long as they can, obviously. The team back home are looking at the broader picture.'' There was no immediate comment on Warner's remarks from either the White House or the Pentagon.

The Bush administration is under mounting pressure for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq amid growing frustration in Congress over the Maliki government's political failures.

The New York Times reported this weekend that top Pentagon officials appear to be leaning toward a steep reduction in US combat brigades by the end of next year.

''Whatever we do, we must do it in a very deliberate fashion and we must do it in such a way where we understand that the gains we have will not be lost,'' Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 US commander in Iraq, said on CNN's ''Late Edition.'' ''I think we'll have a plan in place that allows us to do this,'' he said.

The White House faces the prospect of new troop-withdrawal initiatives in Congress as Washington awaits a crucial September 15 report from Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Hillary Clinton of New York, the leading Democratic candidate for president, have both called for Maliki to be replaced.

Maliki on Sunday lashed out at Levin and Clinton for their ''severe interference'' in Iraqi domestic affairs, saying they were treating his country like ''one of their villages.'' Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas warned that pressuring Maliki could backfire. ''I don't think it's in our best interest to put so much pressure on the new Iraqi government that it absolutely collapses,'' he said on ABC's ''This Week.'' The Democrats' comments have stirred speculation about potential candidates to replace Maliki, including former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi whose secularist bloc formally quit the Iraqi government on Friday.

Asked on CNN if he would like to be prime minister again, Allawi said: ''I wouldn't frankly be willing to become a prime minister in a sectarian regime ... but I would play my role in Iraq in whatever capacity is required to change Iraq into a nonsectarian country.'' REUTERS MS RN2349