Did the Bush Administration support the idea of troop reduction or withdrawal?

Immediate withdrawal would say to the Zarqawis of the world, and the terrorists of the world, and the bombers who take innocent life around the world, you know, the United States is weak; and all we've got to do is intimidate and they'll leave."

"I know there are calls in some quarters for withdrawal or arbitrary timelines for withdrawals. The enemies hear those words, as well. We need to be realistic about the consequences. If we left Iraq prematurely, as the terrorists demand, the enemy would tell us to leave Afghanistan and then withdraw from the Middle East...

And then we would face not only the evil ideology of these violent extremists, but an enemy that will have grown accustomed to succeeding and telling free people everywhere what to do. We can persevere in Iraq, or we can withdraw prematurely until they force us to make a stand near home. But make no mistake, they're not going to give up, whether we acquiesce in their immediate demands or not."

ABIZAID: Under the current circumstances, I would not recommend troop withdrawals."

'We want to do it as soon as we can but you can't do it too fast,' said Ham. He cautioned against 'rushing to failure.'"

MR. McCLELLAN: ...Let me make a couple of points. We all want our troops to return home soon. The best way to get our troops home and to honor them is to complete the mission in Iraq. That means continuing to train Iraqi forces so that they can take over all of the security of their own country and provide for their own defense.

There are a lot of families here at home that want to see those troops come home. The President wants to see those troops come home. But it's important that we complete the mission because this is critical to winning the war on terrorism and defeating the terrorists."