WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The top U.S. general in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, on Wednesday said it may take less than the year previously thought needed to train Iraqi security forces. Earlier this year, a general in Iraq said it would take 12 to 18 months to train Iraqis -- a task military officials say must be accomplished before U.S. troops should be withdrawn. "I believe we can accelerate that," Abizaid said in the military's first appearance on Capitol Hill since American voters, angered by Iraq, drove President George W. Bush's Republicans out of power in the next Congress. "I'm not able to give you precisely what I think but I think it's before 12 months."
