Report: Petraeus 'expects' to report success by September, pushes plan that has end of 2008 for drawdown to pre-surge troop levels

Still Missing: There was no word today on the search for Alex Jimenez, left, and Byron Fouty, front center. Both are listed as 'Duty Status: Whereabouts Unknown' following a May 12th attack. Yesterday, the number two commander in Iraq said he still had hope, but 'As time goes on, it gets tougher. And that’s the bottom line...' Left: A yellow ribbon tied round a tree at Byron Fouty's former high school.

U.S. officials told ABC News that the troop levels in Iraq cannot be maintained at the present level, either politically or practically, with the military stretched so thin.

But that does not imply an immediate drawdown. Officials told ABC's Martha Raddatz that the senior commanders in Iraq -- Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno and Gen. David Petraeus -- want the surge to continue until at least December and expect to report enough progress by September to justify the extension...

Plan one, which officials say Odierno is pushing, calls for a reduction in troops from roughly 150,000 today to 100,000 by December 2008.

Petraeus champions a slightly different approach that would cut the troops down to roughly 130,000 by the end of 2008, with further reductions the following year.

Read the rest at ABC News

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