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Iraq troop withdrawal becoming a reality soon?
Interesting development reported by the LATimes:
| quote: | In a departure from past statements, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this week that the training of Iraqi troops has advanced so far that the current number of U.S. troops probably will not be needed for much longer.
President Bush will give a major speech Wednesday at the U.S. Naval Academy in which aides say he is expected to proclaim the improved readiness of Iraqi troops, which he has identified as the key condition for withdrawing U.S. forces.
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Some analysts say the emerging consensus might have less to do with conditions in Iraq than the long-term strain of the deployment on the U.S. military. And major questions over the readiness of Iraq's fledgling security forces pose risks for any strategy that calls for an accelerated American troop withdrawal.
As recently as late September, senior U.S. military commanders told a congressional hearing that just one Iraqi battalion, about 700 soldiers, was considered capable of conducting combat operations fully independent of any U.S. support. Administration officials now dismiss that measure of military readiness, saying more Iraqi units are able to perform advanced operations each day.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationw...-home-headlines |
IF, and that's a big "if", but IF we assume this action is true, then I think we can make some conclusions as well as some fun political speculations on this whole affair that's blown up in Congress as of late with Murtha, Schmidt, and others.
Conclusion 1: The is no real debate about troop withdrawal here. It's now a reality, and it seemingly has been for some time. Everything from this point on has been and will continue to be nothing but political posturing. And that leads to point #2:
Conclusion #2: Does this mean Bush is a chickenshit coward like Murtha who wants to "cut and run"? (And no, I don't think Murtha is a coward, just in case anyone who doesn't know me is wondering).
Now in regards to posturing, it's going to be interesting to see how the Republicans are going to spin this development. Are we to really believe that Iraq is that well off, and shall we ignore the realities of just how unprepared the Iraqi troops are themselves in fighting their own battles?
Conclusion #3: What spot does this put those Democrats like Biden, Joementum, and Hillary who believe we should stay the course and even increase the number of troops there?
Again, an interesting twist on those Dems. left who believe we need to remain and fight for an Islamic fundamentalist regime.
And if you haven't guessed yet, I'm not a fan of Hillary, Biden, Bush-lite Lieberman, Kerry, and the rest of the idiot Washington Beltway Dems. who haven't a fucking clue as to the pulse on the rest of America.
Speculation #1: This was expected considering the '06 elections and the miserable poll numbers by this Administration and the GOP Congress. This is a bordeline conclusion, but I'll leave it as a speculation for now.
Speculation #2: Is this just a headfake to begin with? Some speculate, given our oil and neocon geopolitical interests, that we'll never leave and will have a very insignificant troop withdrawal.
This is an interesting speculation too, one that I'm not quite ready to give into, but it does raise a flag high enough to keep an eye on just how many troops are being withdrawn. If we're only talking about a few thousand, maybe say under 30,000 total - then I think we can pretty much safely conclude it was nothing but a headfake to try to win over the public again. That way Bush and his minions will say, "See, we did bring home the troops!" While the remaining 120,000 troops are still there with no end in sight.
Speculation #3: Significant troop withdrawals so we can deploy troops to another country to target for invasion. Syria or Iran comes to mind. This one I'm pretty far from entertaining, again because of Bush's very low numbers and worldwide lack of credibility. You still can't put too much past George, though.
Like I said, interesting development. Feel free to add conclusions and speculations if you so desire.
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Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...
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Withdrawal....a reality soon?
Anti-Purple Alliance.
