DEMOCRATS, who won control of the US Congress, said today they would push to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq in the next few months. "First order of business is to change the direction of Iraq policy," said Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress that convenes in January. The Iraqi government must be told that US presence was "not open-ended and that, as a matter of fact, we need to begin a President George W. Bush has insisted that US troops would not leave until Iraqis could take over security for their country, and has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for withdrawal, saying that would only embolden the insurgents. However, the White House said Mr Bush was open to new ideas and the President would tomorrow meet the bipartisan Iraq Study Group expected to recommend alternative policies in its final report.