Bush Cuts Troops in Iraq by 8,000

President George W. Bush announced a plan Tuesday morning that would withdraw about 8,000 troops from Iraq by February and strengthen U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

In his speech at the National Security University in Washington D.C., Bush said that improving conditions in Iraq will allow a "quite surge" of American troops to Afghanistan, where there has been a resurgence of the Taliban and increased violence.

The troop cut is smaller than what most expected due to the Bush administration's desire to maintain recent security gains in Iraq. This decision will mark Bush's final decision in a war that has defined his presidency.

Bush said that he is making the decision based on recommendations made by top military officers, including Gen. David Petraeus, the highest ranking military officer in Iraq.

"Over the next several months, we will bring home about 3,400 combat support forces -- including aviation personnel, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineers, military police, and logistical support forces," Bush said.

"By November, we will bring home a Marine battalion that is now serving in Anbar province. And in February of 2009, another Army combat brigade will come home.

"This amounts to about 8,000 additional American troops returning home without replacement. And if the progress in Iraq continues to hold, Gen. Petraeus and our military leaders believe additional reductions will be possible in the first half of 2009."

Bush said that violence in Iraq is down to it's lowest point since spring of 2004, but more work needs to be done in Afghanistan, where troop presence has risen from 20,000 to 31,000 in the past two years.

"While the terrorists and extremists deliberately target and murder the innocent, coalition and Afghan forces risk their lives to protect the innocent," he said.