U.S., Iraqi Officials Discuss Steps to Speed Troop Withdrawals

Statements Suggest Heightened Immediacy for Move

By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 27, 2005; 10:48 AM

BAGHDAD, July 27 -- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari and the top U.S. commander in Iraq Wednesday and discussed specific steps to speed preparations for the withdrawal of some of the 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq beginning as early as next spring.