President Bush raised the possibility of U.S. troop cuts in Iraq if security continues to improve

President Bush raised the possibility of U.S. troop cuts in Iraq if security continues to improve, traveling here secretly to assess the war before a showdown with Congress. The president was joined by his war cabinet and military commanders at an unprecedented meeting in Iraq over eight hours at this dusty military base in the heart of Anbar province, 120 miles west of Baghdad. Bush did not say how large a troop withdrawal might be possible or whether it might occur before next spring when the first of the additional 30,000 troops he ordered to Iraq this year are to start coming home anyway. He emphasized that any cut would depend upon progress.