Q Dana, it's now September. General Petraeus is soon to shift over to CENTCOM. We've been hearing from the Pentagon that he's made his initial recommendations about troop levels in Iraq. Obviously, the President still hasn't weighed in on it. What are the plans? What's the timing that we can expect? What are the plans for rolling out a decision? How will we learn about all this?

MS. PERINO: Well, General Petraeus as you'll recall, asked for a 45-day assessment period; that has ended. That was after the President announced that the five brigades would be coming back. That period now having ended, General Petraeus, through his chain of command, has given his assessment, and Secretary Gates and Chairman Mullen have briefed the President. The President is now considering his options, and I would expect that as he works through that, as soon as he's finished with it, we'll be able to provide you more information.

I would point out to you I believe that there is a hearing next week that Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen are participating in. I would expect that they would talk about troop levels in Iraq there.

seen at 09:00, 4 September in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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