Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Admiral William Fallon, head of U.S. forces in the Middle East, endorsed Iraq war commander General David Petraeus's plan to withdraw as many as 30,000 troops by July, rejecting lawmakers' suggestions that the two men are at odds over the timing and extent of a pullout.

``I think it's appropriate, the right thing to do; I concur with it, I concur with the timing of it,'' Fallon said in a telephone interview yesterday from Oman, one stop on a tour of Persian Gulf countries where he is discussing threats from Iran.

Democrats and Republicans last week questioned whether Fallon, 62, who oversees all U.S. troops in the Middle East and is Petraeus's boss, favored broader, quicker cuts than those outlined by Petraeus on Capitol Hill and accepted by President George W. Bush. The Washington Post reported Sept. 9 that Fallon favored a more radical drawdown than Petraeus.

``Any disagreement that Fallon has, he can't talk about publicly,'' Representative John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said Sept. 17. Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia flagged press reports that Fallon has a different viewpoint on the pullback during Petraeus's Sept. 11 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, told Petraeus during a Sept. 10 hearing that Fallon reportedly ``favored a more rapid and more substantial withdrawal than what you are proposing.'' And Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island said in a Sept. 14 interview that Fallon's view may not be ``entirely congruent with General Petraeus.''

Troop Reductions

Bush said last week he would follow Petraeus's advice, and withdraw about 5,700 U.S. troops by the end of the year and as many as 30,000 by next July. That would return the force level to as few as 130,000, the number in July before Bush ordered a buildup. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said subsequently that he hopes to cut the force to about 100,000 by December 2008.

Fallon, noting that the drawdown has already started, refused to predict what may happen to troop levels beyond next summer. ``Who knows?'' he said. ``I'm not going to speculate on those numbers.'' Instead, Fallon said the focus is on making sure Iraqis take up the U.S. role as primary provider of security.

``As we transition here, we're going to hand this over to the Iraqis and have them be responsible for security of the country. It will take place over time,'' Fallon said. ``General Petraeus is going to have to work out the details of this in terms of when and where and how.''

A majority of Americans, 54 percent, say U.S. troops should be brought home as soon as possible, while 39 percent want forces to remain in Iraq until the situation is stable, according to a Pew Research Center poll conducted Sept. 12-16.

Countering Iran

Fallon, head of the U.S. Central Command, is touring the Persian Gulf, the sea conduit for almost a quarter of the world's oil, to reassure allies there of the U.S. commitment to their security and to build a united front to counter Iran. He and other American officials say Iran seeks to undermine U.S. efforts to restore stability in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Besides Oman, Fallon has visited the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and will travel to Qatar, Kuwait and Afghanistan for this round of talks with Middle East leaders.

Iran ``is the first thing on their list,'' Fallon said. ``They're very concerned about Iranian behavior, their bullying, the nuclear issue, the way in which they ignore the UN and world opinion, the bombastic rhetoric'' of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

``They look to us as a stabilizing influence,'' Fallon said. ``We ought to be working together to show solidarity.''

Arms Sales

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlined $20 billion in planned arms sales to the Persian Gulf when they met with foreign ministers from the region in Egypt last month. The package includes naval vessels, satellite-guided bombs and fighter-aircraft upgrades.

The U.S. currently has only one aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. It added a second earlier this year to ``bolster the security of Iraq and protect American interests in the Middle East,'' Bush said in January. He subsequently withdrew it to conduct military exercises elsewhere.

In Iraq, the U.S. is targeting Shiite militias that Iran supplies with weaponry, Fallon said. And in Afghanistan, the Iranians are helping the Taliban ``because it's a way to get at'' the U.S. instead of playing a useful role, he said. ``There's some good they can do'' in Afghanistan, he said of the Iranians.

The U.S. has repeatedly accused Iran of training and financing insurgents in Iraq and stoking violence between the country's Shiite and Sunni Muslim communities. Iran denies the charges.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janine Zacharia in Washington at jzacharia@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 19, 2007 00:13 EDT