A US military commander says pulling troops out of Iraq by Christmas would be a “giant step backwards”.

Major General Rick Lynch, who commands troops south of Baghdad, was responding to John Warner, the Virginia Republican senator, who has called on President George W. Bush to announce the start of a phased withdrawal next month. Mr Warner, a second world war veteran and former chairman of the Senate armed services committee, said the White House needed to “put some meaningful” teeth into criticisms of the Iraqi government.