(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-28 05:56

WASHINGTON -- The United States shrugged off French President Nicolas Sarkozy's call on Monday for a clear timetable for withdrawing international forces out of Iraq.

"We appreciate President Sarkozy's support for greater involvement of the international community in Iraq," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

U.S. President George W. Bush will wait to hear from General David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker before any decisions on troop levels are made, Johndroe said.

Petraeus and Crocker are expected to make a report on Iraq progress on September 15.

Sarkozy, who made his first foreign policy speech on Monday since he took office earlier this year, called for a timetable for the U.S.-led international troops to leave Iraq and also promised to help the international community find a political solution to Iraq's woes.

Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac strongly opposed the Iraq war launched by the United States in 2003.