Based on all this, and on the further progress we believe we can achieve over the next few months, I believe that we will be able to reduce our forces to the pre-surge level of brigade combat teams by next summer without jeopardizing the security gains that we have fought so hard to achieve.

CNN: Transcript of Iraq hearing statements

We have been drawing down from the surge-force level already and will continue that process.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

In the Netherlands, where large areas are below sea level, the 1953 surge killed more than 1, 700 people.

BBC: Legacy of Britain's great flood