TROOP PULLBACK OK, SEZ TOP BRASS

WASHINGTON--Gen. David Petraeus signed off yesterday on a long,slow U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq designed to allow President Bush to claim a measure of success before turning the war over to a successor. Petraeus in a much-anticipated hearing before Congress, recommended that the California-based 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit of about 2,000 leathernecks come out on schedule this month, to be followed by an as yet unspecified Army brigade of 3,500 to 4,000 troops by christmas.Speaking for the more than 170,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq, Petraeus said: " We all want to come home, but what we want to do is come home the right way." 9-11-07 nydailynews.com