BEIJING, Nov. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- An independent, bipartisan panel has unanimously agreed to recommend a gradual withdrawal of U.S. combat troops in Iraq, but did not set a firm timetable, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

    The commission is to release its conclusions on Dec. 6 in a report that could help guide U.S. President George W. Bush¡¯s conduct of the war.

    The Times said the Iraq Study Group will recommend that Bush make it clear he will start the troop drawback "relatively soon," indicating sometime next year, according to people familiar with the panel's findings.

    That recommendation would be a compromise between calls from some Democrats for a timetable to withdraw U.S. forces and Bush's insistence that forces should remain until the mission to stabilize Iraq was completed.

    Recommendations of the panel, which is co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker -- a close Bush family friend -- and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton, will be much harder for Bush to resist than if the group were divided, experts and study group advisers say.

    Hamilton earlier told the liberal Center for American Progress: "We reached a consensus," but gave no details.

    (Agencies)

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