NEW YORK (Reuters) - The top U.S. Middle East commander has outlined a plan that would reduce U.S. forces in Iraq by some 20,000 to 30,000 by next spring, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.

Citing three senior military officers and Defense Department officials, The Times said that the assessment by Gen. John Abizaid, the head of the military's Central Command, was contained in a classified briefing given to senior Pentagon officials last month.

The plan was in line with Gen. George Casey's remarks in a briefing late last month with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that Washington hoped to reduce U.S. forces in Iraq sharply within the next year.

"I do believe that if the political process continues to go positively, if the developments with the (Iraqi) security forces continue to go as it is going, I do believe we will still be able to make fairly substantial reductions after these elections -- in the spring and summer of next year," Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, told Rumsfeld on July 27.

Very encouraging news, and telling in a way. If one were to base their perception of the war in Iraq on nothing other than what is primarily reported in the news you'd think that things were going terribly. You'd think that things are worse now than when we invaded. Yet here we learn that significant progress has been made. We learn that if things remain on the present course which has admittedly had its setbacks) we should be able to begin wrapping up the mission in Iraq and hand things over to the locals in about a year.

Granted, things can change. Nobody should convince themselves that this absolutely will happen, but we should all be taking it as encouraging news. We've done great work in Iraq, and now there's a light at the end of the tunnel.