(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-10 23:45

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush has decided to suspend troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer but cut the length of tours of duty as he defends his war policy, which will leave any resolution of the conflict to his successor.

President Bush speaks before signing the Second Chance Act of 2007 in Washington April 9, 2008. [Agencies]

In a statement at the White House later on Thursday, Bush was due to endorse recommendations by his commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, who told a contentious congressional debate on the costly and unpopular war this week that progress was "fragile and reversible."

The US military will now complete a withdrawal in July of some 20,000 extra combat troops deployed in the last year but then impose a 45-day freeze to assess the security situation before considering further cuts.

Petraeus "wants to wait and see. And I strongly support that," Bush told the Weekly Standard magazine in an online interview published on Thursday before the president made his statement. "And therefore (I) won't commit beyond July."

Bush has repeatedly said his decisions on US troops in Iraq would be based on advice from commanders on the ground and he has opposed setting timetables for withdrawal.

His decision means that more than 100,000 US troops will almost certainly be in Iraq when Bush's successor takes over in January after elections this November.

The president, under pressure over strains on the US military created by the demands of Iraq, will announce that the tour of duty for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will be reduced to one year from 15 months now served.

"The goal for the active duty force is going to be 12 months in, and a minimum of 12 months out," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

The policy will affect troops deploying starting August 1, she said.

"And we think that that will start to help deal with the stress issues in regards to these deployments, especially people who have been deployed several times," Perino said.

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