beginning next month. the big question is how many? while military brass prefer a gradual drawdown starting with a few thousand troops, a bi-partisan group of lawmakers wants a much bigger number than that to start coming home. listen to what democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon told happe "happening now." jenna: give me a number. >> we are talking about initial reductions of 50 to 25,000 troops. carl levin has stepped in and said it should be at least 15,000, roughly half of the surge number. jon: michael ohanlan is a senior fellow for politics studies at the brookings institute. what is your number. >> a few thousand is the number if you want to keep building up the afghan army and police and stabilizing the country. you can go to a much deeper cut if you want to discard the