'US should withdraw from combat'

Washington: An influential study on Iraq is expected to recommend that the US withdraws from combat over the next 12 months and concentrates on training Iraqi forces.

The Iraq Study Group report is also expected to call for a more comprehensive Middle East peace plan as part of a strategy to stabilize Iraq.

Details of the long awaited document have been leaked before its official release on Wednesday, although President Bush has yet to say if he will heed the advice of the bi-partisan group.

CNN said that the report did not recommend a specific timetable for withdrawing but said that the Iraqis had to take on more military responsibility.

It said the mission of the US should become one of “supporting the Iraqi army."

Elsewhere, the Washington Post has reported that the US sets specific targets for the Iraq government on improving security, with the threat of cuts in economic and military support if it fails.

More than three-and-a-half years after the March 2003
invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, about 140,000 American
troops remain in Iraq fighting an insurgency and trying to stop
savage sectarian strife between Shi'ites and Sunnis.

The president was briefed on the report on Tuesday and has said he will listen to the group's ideas.

However, the White House said it doubted the panel's findings would provide a "magic bullet."