Sessions: Troop Movement After September

Sessions Says Iraq Draw Down At End Of Summer; Levin Says No Reason To Wait

(CBS)  Most Republicans in Congress are expecting the president to start cutting back on the number of troops in Iraq, conservative Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said on Face The Nation.

"By September, when General Petraeus is to make a report, I think most of the people in Congress believe, unless something extraordinary occurs, that we should be on a move to draw that surge number down," Sessions said. "This government in Iraq has got to step up, and we've got to be able to draw our troop levels down, to be in a more supportive role, an embedding role, a training role, and they've got to defend their own country."

On Friday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said he expects to see a shift in policy by the fall, and he expects "the president to lead it."

Democratic Senator Carl Levin, who also appeared on Face The Nation, said there's no reason to wait until September.

"We've got men and women dying in Iraq right now. Why not make that change in course right now? We know it has to come," Levin told Bob Schieffer. "There must be no ambiguity. This president is totally ambiguous, and he doesn't get it... He talks about the Iraq political leaders needing to do something, but he won't say what they must do or what the consequences would be."

Sessions said that Republicans in Congress will until September to give the President Bush's troop "surge" time to work, but he said he did not expect them to wait much longer.

"I don't think we need to be an occupying power. This is a fine line we've walked, and this surge has got to be temporary," Sessions said. "Because of the violence in the capital city of Baghdad, we had to take a bitter pill, and this Congress has supported General Petraeus and the step up for a surge for a temporary period."

Sessions thinks the president is "coming around" to the same point of view.

"I certainly hope that will occur. We cannot sustain this level, in my opinion, in Iraq and Afghanistan much longer," he said.