Washington, July 10, SPA -- The White House said Monday that President George W. Bush, contrary to a report in the New York Times today, is not considering a strategy shift in Iraq that would begin with a redeployment of American troops this year. The administration also tried to lower expectations about a report due Sunday on whether the Iraqi government is meeting political, economic and security benchmarks that Bush set in January when he announced a buildup of 21,500 U.S. combat forces. White House press secretary Tony Snow said that all of the additional troops had just gotten in place and it would be unrealistic to expect major progress now. “You are not going to expect all the benchmarks to be met at the beginning of something,” Snow said. “You are hoping that you are going to be able to see progress in terms of meeting benchmarks from that beginning stage to what you see in two months.” But at the same time, he said that Sept. 15 is not “the drop dead date” by which everything should be completed. --MORE www.spa.gov.sa/466189