Pace: U.S. to launch phased Iraq pullout

[ECH1969]

The U.S. will carry out planned withdrawals of American troops in Iraq only from regions where Iraqi forces can maintain security against the insurgents, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said Thursday.

Gen. Peter Pace said the current force of 160,000 would drop to below 138,000 by March, then U.S. commanders on the ground would work with the Iraqi government to determine the pace of future pullbacks in areas that have been secured by local security forces.

"The bottom line will be that the Iraqi army and the Iraqi police will gain in competence, that they will be able to take on more and more of the territory, whether or not there are still insurgents in that area," he said in an interview with a small group of reporters, including The Associated Press, aboard a military plane en route to the United Arab Emirates.

The exact size of the additional troops cuts has not been announced, but senior Pentagon officials have said the number of American troops in Iraq could drop to about 100,000 by next fall.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-12-29-mideast-pace_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

[psychopomp]

1. The current force of 160,000 would drop to below 138,000 by March

...only to double after the midterm congressional elections!

[mom cat]

15. Right. Actually, this is not so much a real troop reduction as it is

a pulling out of the extra troops we sent in before the elections.
This so reminds me of the promices to "wind down the war" in Viet Nam.

[xultar]

2. So haven't we given the terra-ists a date?

[HuffleClaw]

3. oh i see

so bush can proclaim this during his SOTU speech. the word 'flip-flop' comes to mind.

[global1]

4. Isn't This The Same Guy The Other Day That Said - Troops Will...

increase? Didn't he get dressed down by Rummy who was saying the opposite?

[wtmusic]

5. I get it...we raise troop levels, and then bring them back

to what they were previously, to make it look like we're pulling out. Kinda like raising gas prices, then letting them fall almost back to where they were. And my oh my, look how cheap gas is these days!

Think there's a pattern here?

[stop the bleeding]

6. This is such BULLSHIT!!!! - they are only bringing the levels down

to what it was before the voting on the constitution back in August - 138,000 give or take the extra 5,000 that has been stated as leaving in addition to the planned draw-down from the voting periods is complete BULLSHIT.

After this initial drawback everything else is pending on the Security forces gaining control, well I don't know about you all but according to the headlines that I have been reading everyday that "pending draw-down" could be a long ways off.

Sorry to go off but * is doing more here than just flip flopping he is fucking trying pull the wool over the sheeple's eyes just around the time of the SOTU address.

The Dems need to point this out for what it is - Anyone who looks at the facts could not call this progress....

I will edit in a minute after I get done cooling off..:grr::grr::grr::grr:

[cliss]

9. Don't worry. Nobody's going to fall for this.

Rep. Murtha has already commented on this little Dog and Pony Show. He said, "that's not what I had in mind".

This is just the Pentagon praying to God that the American people will accept this little ruse.....right before the mid-term elections, naturally. Then, on Nov. 3, they all go right back again.

But the truth is, the American people will not fall for this stinking cow-pie. Because we will still continue losing US troops. We'll still keep hemorrhaging billions.

Nothing has changed.

[stop the bleeding]

14. thank you for bringing back to an acceptable level of pissedoffedness

Give Mommy a Kiss....."

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Meanwhile in TRW...

... on the same day in fact, it was reported that our troops are now chaperoning Iraqi troops to make sure that the Iraqi troops aren't actually getting into any hanky-panky. It seems that the "Iraqi Army" is in fact composed of units of various sectarian militias. (Who would have guessed that?) And that they are not to be trusted to go out on their own. That is The Real World state of Iraqification. But the Reality Based Community is not in power, so what is happening over here in TRW is not of much interest.

Also note that all that the liars are really talking about is bringing the pumped up 160,000 man level down to the 138,000 man level. That would be the 'regular' size of the occupation force. Wake me up when they get down to 38,000.

Oh and one more thing. What the fuck is the mercenary troop level? Anybody wanna guess on that one?

[librechik]

17. I also read a report that the Kurds have infiltrated the Iraqi army

in order to pull off an attack in the South at will.

We'll never know (by law in Bremer's "code") about the mercenaries. Iraq is a Free Enterprize utopia. In their fantasies, corporate creeps never have to follow ANY regulations.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. The disconnect between the public propaganda front on Iraq

and the reality on the ground is alarming. I wonder how far the clowns at the top have bought their own bullshit? They have an 'Iraqi Army' that is in reality a logistics supply depot for the sectarian militias. We are arming and training the shiite and kurdish militias. The factions of the former nation of Iraq are maneuvering for the end game, and our leaders are still trying to live out their hugs and flowers freemon-n-moxy neoclown utopian vision of a transformed free-market middle east. This is a huge disconnect. The danger is that we actually act as if our bullshit is real and put ourselves (our troops that is) into a seriously dangerous situation. I think this new year is going to be the climax of the Iraqi debacle, and it is not going to be pretty.

[symbolman]

8. Actually the real plan is

one Troop a year for the next 160,000 years..

Pure bullshit. Bait and Switch from the get go..

As a kid, really little, I used to ask grownups WHY we had to BUILD Nuclear missles when we could just SHOW PICTURES OF THEM ON TV, that it would be a lot safer..

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. Actually, it's 2 soldiers a day. The 219 year plan.

[anotherdrew]

10. little 10% fiddling around like this makes no difference, just headlines

[Dharma_Bum]

11. BULLSHIT!!

Pull out 22,000 ... redeploy 23,000 in April!!

It's a damn ploy to set-up the republicans!!

... YOU WATCH!

[Selteri]

12. Set up or set up by?

[jsamuel]

13. words words words words words

said it before and I'll say it again...

I won't believe it until I see it.

[VegasWolf]

18. Only after all the Iraqi oil has been stolen by the US.

:bounce: