Pat Dollard | Young Americans

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2008 (Reuters) — U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday held out the prospect of further troop withdrawals from Iraq as he hailed security gains there and cut the length of combat tours for U.S. forces in the country.

Bush, in an appearance at the White House, said violence in Iraq had fallen to its lowest point since the spring of 2004 and that progress on the ground was showing a “degree of durability.”

“We are now in our third consecutive month with reduced violence levels holding steady,” Bush said.

The number of U.S. soldiers killed in combat in Iraq has dropped sharply in July and the monthly total is likely to be the lowest since the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003.

Five U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat in Iraq this month compared to 66 in the same month last year, according to the independent website www.icasualties.org, which keeps records of U.S. military losses in the conflict.

Bush said Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, later this year would present him with recommendations on future troop levels “including further reductions in our combat forces as conditions permit.”

He said that as of Friday, U.S. troops deployed to Iraq in the future would serve shorter combat tours, 12 months instead of 15 months, as conditions improve in the war zone.

“This relieves the burden on our forces,” he said.

Painting a brighter outlook for the unpopular war, Bush praised Iraqi forces for taking on more security responsibility and said the Iraqi government was also making progress on the political front.

Seeking to build on recent gains, tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers and police launched a major operation against Sunni Islamist al Qaeda in northeastern Diyala province on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, editing by Vicki Allen)