Sunni leader from Junior's Sept 3rd handshake photo op killed in bomb attack

[Amerigo Vespucci]

By Matt Spetalnick 33 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070913/pl_nm/iraq_bush_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush is expected to endorse plans on Thursday for limited cuts in U.S. troop levels in Iraq but will offer little else to skeptical Americans looking for a change of course in the unpopular war. Trying to rally public support in the face of growing Democratic opposition to his Iraq strategy, Bush will deliver a televised address after two days of congressional testimony by his top military commander and diplomatic official in Baghdad.

Bush is expected to embrace Gen. David Petraeus' recommendation to gradually withdraw up to 30,000 of the 169,000 troops in Iraq by next summer, bringing U.S. force down to what it was before he ordered a buildup in January.

The Pentagon said Bush would talk in terms of five brigades, not a total number of troops. At least 21,000 troops will be withdrawn under the Petraeus plan, plus a undetermined number of support forces. "It's premature to put a figure at least in terms of the number of individual troops coming out," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. "That is because there are support troops ... the general has not yet decided how many of those he will still need as he takes out those five combat brigades."

The proposed drawdown would not be as fast or as large as Democrats have demanded, but it could buy time for Bush to pursue the war by undermining a push for a wider withdrawal. Bush has touted Thursday's prime-time speech as a chance to "lay out a vision" for future U.S. involvement in Iraq four and a half years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. As Bush prepared his speech, a Sunni tribal leader instrumental in driving al Qaeda out of Iraq's Anbar province was killed by a bomb attack. Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, the most influential leader of an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes, was killed less than two weeks after he met Bush.



President Bush, shakes hands with Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, right, leader of the Anbar Salvation Council, also known as the Anbar Awakening -- an alliance of clans backing the Iraqi government and U.S. forces -- during a meeting with tribal leaders at Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar province, Iraq, in this Sept. 3, 2007 file photo. Abu Risha, the most prominent figure in a U.S.-backed revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Iraq, was killed Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007, by a bomb planted near his home in Anbar province 10 days after he met with President Bush, police and tribal leaders said. Also seen at rear, from left to right: Gen. David Petraeus; Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, partially obsured. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

[HereSince1628]

1. Things are going SO well in Anbar. This is an anomaly

not worth noting...move along, move along...

[rodeodance]

2. The handshake of death

[NI4NI]

3. When will people ever learn

that anything the Chimp in Chief touches turns to shit; anyone who disagrees with him is discarded; and anyone who abides with him is disgraced; or in this case, dead!
This is his true legacy!

[Broke Dad]

4. Sad day for peace and for our soldiers . . .

It is a very sad day when somebody lays down their weapons to work for peace for their people and then is killed while being a peacemaker.

This means that the "surge" is not really working in western Iraq and that Sunnis who work for peace and security are not safe. It also means our soldiers will be staying longer and putting their lives at risk with no end in sight unless we change course.