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Combat tours will be cut back

At the White House: Bush is to switch from 15 months to 12, where rotations were before the troop buildup.

WASHINGTON - President Bush plans to announce today that he will cut Army combat tours in Iraq from 15 months to 12, returning rotations to where they were before last year's troop buildup in an effort to alleviate the tremendous stress on the military, administration officials said.

The move is in response to intense pressure from service commanders who have expressed anxiety about the toll of long deployments on their soldiers and, more broadly, about the U.S. military's ability to confront unanticipated threats.

Bush will announce the decision during a speech in which aides said he would also embrace Army Gen. David H. Petraeus' plan to indefinitely suspend a drawdown of forces.

The twin decisions may set the course for U.S. policy in Iraq through the fall and perhaps for the rest of Bush's presidency.

Frustrated by their inability to force Bush to shift direction since they took over Capitol Hill more than a year ago, congressional Democrats began coalescing behind a strategy of trying to force the Iraqis to shoulder more of the costs of the war and reconstruction. Key Republicans signaled support for the approach.

The political maneuvering came as Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker completed two days of lengthy congressional hearings in search of continued support for the war effort.

Their conclusion that Iraq has begun making significant but fragile progress on both security and political fronts changed few minds and left lawmakers in both parties impatient for a clear path to resolution.

The bottom line seems to be that after pulling out the extra forces Bush sent last year, the United States will keep about 140,000 troops in Iraq at least through the November election. In the short term, the debate in Washington will focus more intently on trade-offs at home, including the strain on the armed forces and the Treasury.

Eliminating 15-month tours will restore deployments to an equal balance of one year in the war zone followed by one year at home. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates extended the tours almost exactly a year ago to provide enough forces for Bush's surge of 20,000 more combat troops and 8,000 support troops. Army leaders have complained about the strain.

Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army's departing vice chief of staff, told the House Armed Services Committee yesterday that the Army was "out of balance" and that the demand for forces in Iraq and Afghanistan "exceeds the sustainable supply."

Petraeus, who along with Crocker testified before two House committees a day after addressing two Senate panels, said he favored scaling back the combat tours.

"Operationally, we would welcome that," he said, "both because of the strain and the stress, and really just a general recognition of the value in that."

Bush's decision will affect only those troops sent to Iraq as of Aug. 1 or later, meaning that those already there still have to complete their 15-month tours.

Bobby Muller, president of Veterans for America, an advocacy group, said that nearly half of the Army's active-duty frontline units were currently deployed for 15 months and that Bush's decision leaves them out.

"In short, this is a hollow announcement," Muller said. "It is nothing more than political posturing at the expense of our troops."

House Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D., Mo.) applauded Bush's move but said, "It only resets us to where we were last winter."

Democrats moved to press Bush on another front, linking the sagging U.S. economy to escalating war costs. On a day when oil hit $112 a barrel for the first time, lawmakers said energy-rich Iraq should be footing more of its own bills.

"We've put about $45 billion into Iraq's reconstruction . . . and they have not spent their own resources," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D., Ill.). "They have got to have some skin in the game."

Sens. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) and Susan Collins (R., Maine) met yesterday to craft a bipartisan bill to make Iraq take on a greater share of the financial burden. Under their plan, any future U.S. money for reconstruction would take the form of a loan to be repaid, and Baghdad would have to pay for fuel used by U.S. troops, the training of its own security forces, and payments to the predominantly Sunni fighters in the Awakening movement taking on al-Qaeda.

Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), one of the staunchest war supporters and a key ally of Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, agreed that Bush made a mistake by not making Iraqis repay U.S. costs from the start.

"The best thing we can do for the people of Iraq," he said, "is to make them a stakeholder in their own country." EndText