| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
30 Nov 2006 11:05:45 PM |
| Object: |
Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008 |
How sickening. They're going to keep people in the meat grinder so they
can pull them just before the Presidential election.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15976601/
Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008
Some troops would remain to train, advise Iraqis
By Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks
The Washington Post
Updated: 10:15 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2006
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly
all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008 while leaving behind
troops to train, advise and support the Iraqis, setting the first goal
for a major drawdown of U.S. forces, sources familiar with the proposal
said yesterday.
The commission plan would shift the U.S. mission in Iraq to a secondary
role as the fragile Baghdad government and its security forces take the
lead in fighting a Sunni insurgency and trying to halt sectarian
violence. As part of major changes in the U.S. presence, sources said,
the plan recommends embedding U.S. soldiers directly in Iraqi security
units starting as early as next month to improve leadership and
effectiveness.
The call to pull out combat brigades by early 2008 would be more a
conditional goal than a firm timetable, predicated on the assumption
that circumstances on the ground would permit it, according to the
sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the
commission's report will not be released until next week. But panel
members concluded that it is vital to set a target to put pressure on
Iraqi leaders to do more to assume responsibility for the security of
their country.
"It's really about transitioning from a combat to a support role, and
basically making very clear that this is no longer an open-ended
commitment and we're going to get this done whether the Iraqis like it
or not," said one of the sources. "Everybody understands that we're at
the end of the road here."
The choice of early 2008 as a goal could also, intentionally or not,
change the nature of the debate over the war at the height of the U.S.
presidential primary season. If the commission's plan is successful, the
war might recede as an issue, as many strategists in both parties hope.
But if U.S. commanders do not meet that goal, or if they do but violence
only escalates, it may inflame the struggles for both parties'
nominations.
Democrats, who captured control of both houses of Congress in last
month's midterm elections, and some Republicans have pushed strongly for
a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops. But President Bush has firmly
resisted such demands, warning that it would amount to surrender and
could destabilize Iraq even further.
‘No realism’
At a news conference after a summit with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki in Amman, Jordan, yesterday, Bush seemed to douse the idea of
withdrawal in response to news reports about the Iraqi Study Group's
recommendations. "This business about graceful exit just simply has no
realism to it whatsoever," Bush said.
But aides later cautioned against interpreting that as opposition to any
change in the U.S. troop posture. "That's not the case," said one senior
official who declined to be identified. "His position is he's not
entering this process with defeat on his mind" for the sole purpose of
getting out. Some options being discussed by the Iraqi Study Group and
his own administration's internal policy review, the official said, are
"things that he's very open to."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an interview with CBS News,
sounded more open to the concept of drawing down forces. "The whole goal
here is to transfer responsibility to the Iraqis and to give them enough
capability to take those responsibilities," she said. "Obviously, as
those responsibilities are transferred, as the capability improves, then
American forces will be less in evidence and less needed. That's a
natural outcome."
The Iraq Study Group, chartered by Congress and led by former secretary
of state James A. Baker III and former congressman Lee H. Hamilton
(D-Ind.), concluded its deliberations this week with a draft report
about 100 pages long. The report is scheduled to be released next
Wednesday and will include a variety of conclusions and recommendations
about the region. Among other things, the commission considered
proposals to reach out to Iran and Syria and to convene a regional
conference to bring all of Iraq's neighbors into the process of
stabilizing the country.
The panel included a significant caveat for the 2008 goal for troop
withdrawals by recommending that commanders should plan to pull out
combat units by then unless "unexpected developments" make them decide
that such a move would be unwise, the sources said. Still, they said,
the plan would put the onus on U.S. commanders to try to meet that goal
or explain why they failed to do so.
Pulling out combat units would not mean the end of the U.S. military
involvement in Iraq, which could continue in a different form for years.
The withdrawal would be partially offset by an influx of advisers,
trainers and embedded troops. The number of such troops now stands at
roughly 5,000 and should be quadrupled to about 20,000, the group's plan
says, according to a source. The commission envisions leaving
quick-strike U.S. forces to protect the government against a coup.
Although it was not clear how many U.S. troops would be left in Iraq by
2008, some people knowledgeable about the commission's deliberations
have said that it might be possible to reduce the force of 140,000 to
half by then. "There'll still be a presence there that will be
significant just because of the nature of embedded forces," said one of
the sources familiar with the commission's report. "It won't be what we
have now, I'll tell you that."
The transition from a combat mission to a support mission would be a
radical shift in the nature of the U.S. presence in Iraq, now more than
3 1/2 years after the invasion that toppled Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein from power. The commission sees this shift in emphasis as so
crucial that it suggests that U.S. commanders begin by reassigning
troops directly out of military units already in Iraq, rather than
waiting for new advisers to deploy from the United States.
But some military specialists warned that such a transition could
actually result in more violence or even let the country slide into a
full-blown civil war. Many U.S. military commanders believe that the
U.S. presence is keeping a lid on Iraq's civil conflict. "I think as we
pull down troops, the violence is going to get worse -- and that will
make it harder to get the Iraqi army stood up," said Frederick Kagan, a
defense scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
‘Change the debate’
Nor would cutting the troop presence increase pressure on Maliki and
other Iraqi leaders, a senior U.S. intelligence official argued earlier
this week. Rather, he said, it would likely make Iraqi officials feel
more endangered and so less likely to take risks and make difficult
decisions.
Others in Washington cautiously welcomed the emerging report. "I think
that the Baker report is . . . going to change the debate in this
country," Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) told CNN. Sen. Christopher Dodd
(D-Ct.), speaking on MSNBC's "Hardball," said that "I suspect there may
be a growing bipartisan support in this country for what Jim Baker, Lee
Hamilton, the other members of that commission have put together."
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed
Services Committee who has called for the beginning of a pullout within
six months, offered a careful assessment of the few details made public.
"It's a welcome change in course," he said, "although it's not as
specific, or it's not as pointed, or it's not as clear as I would like."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "G-Ride" |
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| Title: Re: Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008 |
01 Dec 2006 01:03:45 PM |
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"stoney" <stoney@the.net> wrote in message
news:fodvm29ihnlqauk0tr3tf6fq6ulj2e0dlk@4ax.com...
How sickening. They're going to keep people in the meat grinder so they
can pull them just before the Presidential election.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15976601/
Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008
Some troops would remain to train, advise Iraqis
<article snipped>
But who is going to man the permanent bases we're building there?
I don't think Commander Codpiece is going to allow any withdrawal on his
watch. (And I use the term "watch" extremely loosely when speaking of Dear
Leader.)
--
Aloha, G-Ride
The force that's forcing you to feel like busting up a Starbucks.
.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008 |
06 Dec 2006 09:05:24 PM |
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On Fri, 1 Dec 2006 09:03:45 -1000, "G-Ride" <gridenospam42@yahoo.com>
wrote in alt.atheism
"stoney" <stoney@the.net> wrote in message
news:fodvm29ihnlqauk0tr3tf6fq6ulj2e0dlk@4ax.com...
How sickening. They're going to keep people in the meat grinder so they
can pull them just before the Presidential election.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15976601/
Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008
Some troops would remain to train, advise Iraqis
<article snipped>
But who is going to man the permanent bases we're building there?
Al Qaeda.
I don't think Commander Codpiece is going to allow any withdrawal on his
watch. (And I use the term "watch" extremely loosely when speaking of Dear
Leader.)
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008 |
01 Dec 2006 01:00:24 AM |
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In article <fodvm29ihnlqauk0tr3tf6fq6ulj2e0dlk@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
How sickening. They're going to keep people in the meat grinder so they
can pull them just before the Presidential election.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15976601/
Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008
Some troops would remain to train, advise Iraqis
By Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks
The Washington Post
Updated: 10:15 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2006
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly
all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008
And that has nothing to do with the election. Sure.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008 |
06 Dec 2006 09:04:52 PM |
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On Thu, 30 Nov 2006 23:00:24 -0800, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism
In article <fodvm29ihnlqauk0tr3tf6fq6ulj2e0dlk@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
How sickening. They're going to keep people in the meat grinder so they
can pull them just before the Presidential election.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15976601/
Iraq panel: Withdraw combat units by 2008
Some troops would remain to train, advise Iraqis
By Peter Baker and Thomas E. Ricks
The Washington Post
Updated: 10:15 p.m. ET Nov. 30, 2006
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group plans to recommend withdrawing nearly
all U.S. combat units from Iraq by early 2008
And that has nothing to do with the election. Sure.
Like I said.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.
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