US President George W. Bush and his top aides have signaled in recent days that they are beginning to look more closely at a "post-surge" strategy that would involve a smaller US troop presence in Iraq and a mission focused on fighting al-Qaeda and training the Iraqi army, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Even as the final installment of the nearly 30,000 additional US troops has yet to arrive in Iraq, officials are talking publicly and privately about how the US strategy might change if the additional forces are able to stem sectarian violence in Baghdad, the newspaper said.

"I would like to see us in a different configuration at some point in time in Iraq," Bush said at a news conference Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace offered similar comments that day, telling reporters that military leaders would be reviewing a new approach as they await a September report by Gen. David H. Petraeus on the progress made by the additional troops.

Administration officials acknowledged privately that they were beginning to consider scenarios for what happens after the additional troops are in place, according to the report.

Although Bush last week forced Congress to agree to fund the next three months of the war with no timeline for withdrawal, leading Republicans are saying that they expect a new strategy this fall, after the Petraeus report.

Administration officials said they are beginning to discuss future troop levels, but they said no decisions have been made. They are developing some scenarios to sustain the additional troops through 2008 and others to begin pulling out in early 2008,among other variations.

Senior US commanders in Iraq, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said troop levels are likely to come down next year, whatever scenario plays out on the ground, the Post report said.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported Saturday that the Bush administration is developing what are described as concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half next year.

The concepts call for a reduction in forces that could lower troop levels by the 2008 presidential election to roughly 100,000,from about 146,000, the latest available figure, which the military reported on May 1. They would also greatly scale back the mission that Bush set for the American military when he ordered it in January to win back control of Baghdad and Anbar Province, the Times reported, quoting senior administration officials.
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2007)