Petreaus expects more troop cuts this fall

"My sense is I will be able to make a recommendation at that time for further reductions," Petraeus said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday on his nomination to the post that would put him in charge of U.S. military operations from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia.

Petraeus declined to estimate the size of a troop cut. "I don't want to imply that that means a BCT [brigade combat team] or major combat formation, although it could," he said, referring to units that could total as many as several thousand troops. U.S. troop strength peaked in Iraq last year at about 165,000. Recent and already approved drawdowns are expected to bring the level to about 133,000 by the end of July.

The hearing was surprisingly low-key and relatively brief, in sharp contrast to Petraeus's last two appearances on Capitol Hill -- in September and last month -- to assess the situation in Iraq. Among those absent from the sparsely attended session was Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the committee's ranking minority member and the likely Republican presidential nominee, who was campaigning in California. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), competing for the Democratic nomination, made a brief appearance at the end of the hearing.