U.S. to Pull 8,000 Troops From Iraq Early in ’09

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: New York Times

President Bush has accepted the recommendation of his senior civilian and military advisers to reduce the number of American troops in Iraq by 8,000 in the early months of next year. The reduction will begin with a Marine Corps battalion set to leave this fall from Anbar Province, once the center of the antigovernment insurgency.

In an address on Tuesday to the National Defense University here, Mr. Bush will unveil his decision on future force levels in Iraq, which includes withdrawing a full brigade of combat troops in the first few weeks of 2009, according to a draft of the speech released late Monday by the White House.

Neither the Marine battalion nor the Army brigade will be replaced, leaving the American combat force in Iraq at 14 brigades. After other support and logistics units are withdrawn under the new orders, the American troop levels in Iraq would drop to about 138,000 by March, still several thousand more than were there in January 2007, when Mr. Bush announced the “surge” that brought the total over 160,000.

“Here is the bottom line: While the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, we have seized the offensive, and Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of leading and winning the fight,” Mr. Bush says in the speech. “As a result, we have been able to carry out a policy of ‘return on success’ — reducing American combat forces in Iraq as conditions on the ground continue to improve.”...

Mr. Bush will also announce a decision to increase American force levels in Afghanistan by about 4,500 troops, according to the draft of the speech....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/world/middleeast/09prexy.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[jaxx]

1. It won't be bush doing it, he leaves his mess to the next prez.

All along he has said no troop reductions on my watch. This is election fodder for the masses who don't know the difference. Piss on bush.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Agreed. Electioneering, this is. nt

[Lasher]

2. I wonder if he knows he won't be in charge after January next year.

He can only withdraw troops while he is president. After that someone else will be doing it. This is like him saying he'll balance the budget by 2012.

[BRLIB]

4. Election rigging, and still more than pre-"surge" levels

They already have the polls close enough to steal another one without a whimper. This will seal the deal.

[LynnTheDem]

5. Still MORE troops in Iraq than when bush launched his illegal war of aggression.

"return on success", what fucking biullshit. But of course the rightwingers will believe it.

Amazing how many people you can fool all the time every time in America.