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2007-07-09 Iraq
Quietly, US strategy in Iraq shifting
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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2007-07-09 10:48|| || Front Page|| [1 views ]  Top
 File under: Iraqi Insurgency 

#1 My source, which is among the top Senate GOP leadership, was saying "the fix is in" as far back as last winter. At the time I was shaking my head in disbelief, but it seems to be unfolding according to his prediction.
Posted by moody blues 2007-07-09 12:30||   2007-07-09 12:30|| Front Page Top

#2 Hopefully it works out.
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2007-07-09 12:33||   2007-07-09 12:33|| Front Page Top

#3 I have never voted for a donk in my life. I am so pissed off at the trunks, I will almost certainly start throwing my vote away on Libertarian/Independent candidates.
Posted by anymouse">anymouse  2007-07-09 12:39||   2007-07-09 12:39|| Front Page Top

#4 My source, which is among the top Senate GOP leadership, was saying "the fix is in" as far back as last winter.

If what you're saying is true, that would mean that our entire government/political system is nothing more than Bad Theater™. And, if so, then nothing we do at the ballot box is ever going to fix it.

The whole swamp that is DC and the government needs to be drained, from elected officials on down. Everything. Tear it down and start over.
Posted by Natural Law 2007-07-09 13:12||   2007-07-09 13:12|| Front Page Top

#5 When General Petraeus testifies in September, he is NOT going to say that the surge is working and that it just needs more time, as they expect him to say.

Instead, he is going to upset their apple cart by saying that the surge worked, the Iraqis are doing well enough to generally maintain the situation, and that large numbers of combat troops are packing up to head home.

This will cause huge distress, because as a sound bite it will be all over the news. But the devil is in the details. And he won't be lying in any way, because this has been the situation on the ground for a long time.

There will be a large number of ground troops who *will* be ready to return to the US, because they are no longer needed there. However, a lot of other forces will be staying.

They will have much less to do with combat operations, though. They will mostly stay on the US bases, and be out of the limelight. They will provide essential services to the Iraqi military, like air support, and considerable logistical and administrative support.

The remaining combat soldiers will be performing training and readiness functions in the background, and SOCOM will still be there for any active combat and intelligence missions needed.

Hopefully, it will knock the wind out of the anti-war sails like it did when Nixon ended the draft.
Posted by Anonymoose 2007-07-09 14:19||   2007-07-09 14:19|| Front Page Top

#6 If Petraeus could pull that off and make it stick, he would have very attractive post-retirement career options.
Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-07-09 16:05||   2007-07-09 16:05|| Front Page Top

#7 It's a grand plan, but nobody'd believe him. The NYT would label Petreaus insane, and ... and ...

What? Say bring all the troops home now? The Dems - if and when they believed it 0- would declare victory for themselves, if they could choke it down. Intriguing possibilities....
Posted by Bobby 2007-07-09 17:41||   2007-07-09 17:41|| Front Page Top

#8 Wid Dubya entrenching + IRAN wilfully escalating tensions and insurgent-terror support in the ME, the only issue for the USA is whether Democracy will be imposed on Iran voluntarily due to Iran-specific implosion and revolution; or forcibly by US-Iranian conflict. MANY NETTERS ARE STILL SPECUL THAT THE BEST TIME FOR IRAN TO ENGAGE IN WAR AGZ USA WILL BE POST-DUBYA, i.e. BEFORE 2010. FEW BELIEVE THAT AMER ENTRENCHMENT WILL STOP EVEN IFF A DEMOLEFTY POL WINS THE WH IN 2008. Moud, like Cindy Sheehan's comments = disappointment on the Dems, can no longer rely on either the US DemoLeft or the MSM. IMO the only pragmatic/
realistic "strategy shift" the USA can do is towards a de facto conflict agz Iran btwn now and before 2010.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-07-09 20:46||   2007-07-09 20:46|| Front Page Top

#9 MANY NETTERS ARE STILL SPECUL THAT THE BEST TIME FOR IRAN TO ENGAGE IN WAR AGZ USA WILL BE POST-DUBYA, i.e. BEFORE 2010.

Then the question is one of 'who does what to the other first'...
Posted by Pappy 2007-07-09 21:56||   2007-07-09 21:56|| Front Page Top

23:57 Swamp Blondie
23:56 Super Hose
23:55 Swamp Blondie
23:50 Pappy
23:48 JosephMendiola
23:48 Swamp Blondie
23:39 buwaya
23:37 PlanetDan
23:36 buwaya
23:33 PlanetDan
23:33 3dc
23:28 JosephMendiola
23:17 mcsegeek1
23:13 ed
23:12 mcsegeek1
23:07 mcsegeek1
23:03 Mike N.
22:53 Super Hose
22:50 Super Hose
22:50 Helmuth, Speaking for Chusoling1715
22:36 OldSpook
22:32 OldSpook
22:26 3dc
22:24 Eric Jablow









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