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| Iraq |
| Commander: Big U.S. Presence in Iraq Until Mid-2009 |
| 2007-07-30 |
| Careful as you read, don't step on the editorial stuff BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. generals expect to need a large contingent of troops in Iraq until the middle of 2009, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said on Monday. Such a timeline would hand President George W. Bush's successor the task of bringing U.S. forces home from Iraq, more than six years after Bush dispatched them to topple Saddam Hussein. The next U.S. president will take office in January 2009 after an election in 2008. Bush's Democratic opponents in Congress want U.S. troops in Iraq, which currently number about 157,000, to leave sooner. Asked about media reports that Washington envisioned a substantial American force remaining in Iraq through mid-2009, General David Petraeus told ABC News: "Sustainable security is, in fact, what we hope to achieve. "It's in our campaign plan. We do think it will take about that amount of time, as you discussed, to establish the conditions for it." Petraeus said he and his deputy, Lieutenant-General Raymond Odierno, were working to determine precisely how many troops would be required. "The key is really how much force do you need? The campaign plan lays out the general concepts, the lines of operation and so forth and the actual plans and the actual force requirements are something that flow from that. And that's what General Odierno and I are working on now," Petraeus said. Petraeus is due to report back to Washington in six weeks on the success of the "surge" -- an increase of U.S. troops Bush ordered to Iraq this year to help restore security, especially around the capital Baghdad. He told ABC he expected to complete his assessment in time, after which he would be able to announce when troops can start to come home. "We do think by about that time, again, that I will have enough of a sense ... to determine at what point we can in fact begin to send forces home without replacements," Petraeus said. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #9 ROFL, Frank! Make it "snarks of the day", not "snark". ;-) |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-07-30 23:50 |
| #8 "JoeM! Lowering the bar!" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-07-30 22:49 |
| #7 thanks Joe. I was feeling I was unstable. I feel better now.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-07-30 22:48 |
| #6 No surprise here to God + Taotaomonas + Madonna fans, roughly = coincidentally just in time for the occurrence of a large, multi-colored interstellar explosion whose detonation could be seen here on Guam despite the lousy weather. DIVINE SIGN TO THE FAITHFUL + WORLD THAT CERTAIN [PRELIMINARY]EVENTS WILL SOON OCCUR . * e.g. NOSTRADAMUS - "None shall see the power of Asia destroyed until SEVEN/SEVENTH holds the line..." |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-07-30 22:40 |
| #5 Just as everywhere else, we won't stay in Iraq a minute longer than we are wanted after we establish the peace. The magnitude of our victory will be proportional to the length of our stay. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-07-30 20:30 |
| #4 Well duh! For crissakes we got troops in friggin Europe and Korea 50 odd years after the fact. We're gonna be in Iraq in a big base or two in 2050 also. |
| Posted by: jds 2007-07-30 20:10 |
| #3 Anybody catch David Ignatius on Chris Matthews's Sunday show? I heard the bite on Rush about an hour ago. He stated, to my great shock, that Iraq was another front on the War. (Meaning, "GWOT", though he didn't say all that, I don't think.) Still... that's effectively a 180 from 4 YEARS of rhetoric about Iraq as "diversion", about "taking your eye off the ball" and so on. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-07-30 13:52 |
| #2 It is important how the administration handles the draw down. They should rotate the unneeded home in large blocks to great announcement. Target rotations in parts of the US that are problematic, and arrange for large welcome home parades, to show the public. After a few thousand only, the public would get the "feeling" that "troops are coming home", which would give the war effort a lot more time. From that point on, returns to Iraq should be individual, with groups coming back. That is, 5,000 go as individuals, 1,000 come home as a group. Yes, it is a "Potempkin" draw down, but it is needed both to reassure the public, and undermine the anti-war and anti-military forces. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-07-30 13:32 |
| #1 Good. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-07-30 12:44 |