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Troop Levels in Iraq

By TChris, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 11:29:53 AM EST
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by TChris

Earlier this year, some political speculators predicted an administration push to draw down the number of troops in Iraq before the November elections as proof of "progress" in its nation-building effort. If that was the administration's hope, reality has intruded:

The top American commander in the Middle East said the more than 140,000 soldiers now in Iraq are likely to be needed there at least until next spring because of continuing sectarian violence and the effort to secure Baghdad. "I think that this level probably will have to be sustained through next spring, and then we'll re-evaluate," General John P. Abizaid told reporters at a breakfast roundtable. ...

The surge in violence over the last six months, especially in Baghdad, has forced American commanders to increase troop levels by around 20,000 since last June and scrap plans made by General George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, to reduce the number of combat brigades to 12 by this month.

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    Troop Levels in Iraq | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#1)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 12:46:03 PM EST
    10 to 1 says that if the Dems win they will actually increase troop levels due to their inability to extricate us from this hell hole, coupled with their inability to defy the military industrial complex.

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 04:14:43 PM EST
    Interpret the General's remarks however you choose, but can there be any doubt that the administration holds steadfast in its position that they have ample troops to achieve the U.S. objectives. Pardon my sarcasm, but is that analysis based on a ten year program or one that seeks to end the conflict and bring the troops home any time soon? I may be a cynic, but I would suggest that one would be hard pressed to cite prior U.S. military actions where we adopted a strategy that John McCain characterized as a game of "whack-a-mole", whereby we move troops from hot spot to hot spot in an attempt to bring volatile areas under control...all the while conceding stability in the area we then abandon. Additionally, we continue to hear that we have trained nearly 300,000 Iraqi troops and yet the number of deaths reported in the troubled nation continues to grow. One must question just how committed or cohesive the Iraqi forces may actually be and whether, as some have asked, they have been infiltrated by insurgents and sectarian groups in order to train and equip their militias. Given the reports of significant defections, it seems to be a plausible explanation of the seemingly insignificant impact these growing numbers of security forces have represented. Read more here: www.thoughttheater.com

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 05:00:44 PM EST
    The empire needs more troops to keep the colonials in check. And then there's that huge moat they will have to dig around Baghdad, to keep out those barbarians. In only 4 years, Iraq has reverted to the morass of 13th century Britain. Gotta love that New World Order.

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#8)
    by Che's Lounge on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 05:17:38 PM EST
    IMHO anyone who wishes for Islamic paradise or eagerly anticipates the Rapture should be helped along as much as possible. There is little difference between the two groups. The sooner we get them off the planet, the better off humanity will be.

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 05:34:42 PM EST
    I'm still waiting for the draft to be reinstated, per all the 'scare tactics' put forth by some in the 2004 elections.

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Tue Sep 19, 2006 at 05:34:42 PM EST
    Et Tu Che???

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#11)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Sep 20, 2006 at 09:10:26 AM EST
    Mfox, Long time no post. How are ya? How the East Coast? Leaves changing yet? I usually end up throwing in wtih (and up about) the Dems. But I'm not even sure I'll be voting this time around, as long as the electoral system has been hijacked by... you guessed it, the industrial part of the military industrial complex. I remember the CEO of Diebold promising to deliver Ohio to Bush in the approach to the 2004 elections. We need to be marching in the streets, every day, for an hour or two, all day and all night long, confronting the masters of war and their profiteering, offshore, tax evading criminal allies, some of whom are in the Democratic party. But the media, the propaganda arm of the MI complex, keeps us pacified with mindless entertainment (Dancing with the Stars) and rewrites history in the process ("Path to the 911th version") People like this are NOT going to solve these problems the "conventional" way. Bill Clinton (the disasta that was NAFTA) starts some charity and gets some face time while leaders of the third world plead to empty seats in the UN General Assembly for some socioeconomic equality in the world. The Democratic party is not the answer to these complex problems. IMHO. Anyway welcome back!

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#10)
    by Edger on Wed Sep 20, 2006 at 06:57:30 PM EST
    Che, I'm with you on that, my friend. if I thought there was a viable faster way than education and encouraging people to think, really to think, for themselves, to eradicate organized religions from the earth, I might make it my main activity and purpose in life. Organized religion, IMO, is probably the most dangerous and evil thing on this planet. It is power politics to the nth degree. It's most successful method and tactic has always been to shut down and compartmentalize peoples minds so completely that they lose nearly all reasoning capacity. Unfortunately those methods and tactics have now moved into the secular political sphere. The past six years of US politics and administration are a shining example.

    Re: Troop Levels in Iraq (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Sep 20, 2006 at 07:06:24 PM EST
    "10 to 1 says that if the Dems win they will actually increase troop levels due to their inability to extricate us from this hell hole" Of course the Dems are unable to extricate us from Iraq, they have NO POWER right now! The GOP certainly has no idea what to do, other than to 'Stay the Course' which I've discovered is a euphamism for 'It's gonne be the next president's problem!!' Of course we need more troops over there now...and we need more in Afghanistan too...

    Troop Levels in Iraq | 9 comments (9 topical)