Fault Lines : Generals Differ On Iraq Pull Out Dates

New York Times:

As the Bush administration mulls options for withdrawing forces in Iraq, fault lines are beginning to emerge in a debate between commanders in the field who favor slow reductions and senior generals at the Pentagon who favor cutting the number of combat troops more deeply.

Among others, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, are said to be leaning toward a recommendation that steep reductions by the end of 2008, perhaps to half of the 20 combat brigades now in Iraq, should be the administration's goal.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[MichiganJFrog]

12:18 AM on 08/26/2007

"TheHawaiianGecko"

Must be an invasive species, an "illegal immigrant" if you will.

I say squash it like a bug.

[TheHawaiianGecko]

12:14 AM on 08/26/2007

Headline from ABC News
Pace Denies Troop Reduction Reports: Joint Chiefs Chairman Insists He Has Not Yet Decided on Troop Issue

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/story?id=3521244&page=1

ABC at least quotes Gen. Pace. The original article in the LA Times is no longer to be found at the paper's website.

[researcher]

12:12 AM on 08/26/2007

we have every right to be there we gave them deomocracy now they must give us the oil.

what is the use of being an imperialist country if we cannot get their oil?

also we need to speed up that process of building that pipeline from iraq to israel.

they are out allies on this war on terror we need to share with them the fruits of war.

[loki]

11:55 PM on 08/25/2007

PART 2…..

The crème de' le' crème is that the US is in such a state of Fear and panic, thats affected everything from our the daily trip to the grocery store, our children schools, every section of transportation, and even the Holy Grail of US Capitalistic, whorshipers of greed, believers of the all mighty dollar, !Wall Street! Our country lives in total fear and heightened state of panic driven defense.

If you realistically looked at the numbers available, other information available ( notice I didnt say facts. I dont consider anything spouted from our government, or anyone else involved in this mess, as being a fact.) But just with the numbers and so called "facts" available, I would have to say that the terrorist are kicking our asses in every way possible. They have the US, England, and other countries scared shitless, and we have invaded a country, systematically destroyed another, and the Terrorist don’t even have a country, so they really are not harmed by this in any real sense. They do however gain in the form of a massive recruitment boost, funding boost ( donations, poppy farms are more prosperous than in any time in Afghanistan’s history, Diamond trade, oil and other commodities that generate money to fund them )
The US on the other hand is going more and more into debt to others like China just so we can fund or so called war on terror. We have to pay that money back sometimes, whereas Al Qaeda doesn’t.

If anyone were to look at the information out there and could make a non bias judgment on who appears to be winning this war on terror, what do you think they would say??

I for one hate to say this, but we are getting as butts kick, in more than one way here.

[ExRepublican]

12:53 AM on 08/26/2007

"I for one hate to say this, but we are getting as butts kick, in more than one way here. "

:-) You are even nuttier than I am. Not to mention JackSlappyIsHappy, or whoever.

Try again?

[ExRepublican]

12:57 AM on 08/26/2007

Not that I was putting you down or anything, I'm not. I'm just giving you a chance to rephrase?

The whole damn thing.......

[loki]

11:55 PM on 08/25/2007

PART 1
Lets see, Bush still manages to push 9-11 as a reason for invading Iraq, and now that he has gone from Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Fight them there and not here, then to Spreading Freedom and democracy.

Lets to some simple math. 9-11 attacks from 15 Saudi Arabians of 20 terrorist who killed 2800 people that day. http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2001/12/19/usatcov-wtcsurvival.htm

Then to date 3706 killed in Iraq, and I think its somewhere around 424 in Afghanistan
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:QXs7w7JZbwAJ:www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf+total+number+of+us+soldiers+killed+in+afghanistan&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

So
2800
+3706
+ 424
---------
6930

So basically , since 9-11 , the war on terror has taken 6930 American lives. Thats not counting contractors and their employees or the suicides of US military men and women and their family members.

Since the White House and Pentagon refuse to admit keeping numbers on terrorist killed or captured, and being defined as a terrorist is up to the white house, there is no accurate way to estimate the amount of terrorist actually killed. Estimates from the Red Crescent, Red Cross, Iraqi government and the other sources range from 22,000 to 100,000+ civilians killed in Iraq, with and estimated 1-2% having possible connections to some kind of terrorist organization.

So now lets look at those numbers again.

6930 US citizens Dead to 2000 an estimated real terrorist. Maybe more but like I said, Bush refuses admit even if he is keeping track.

Dont forget over $500 billion to date spent mostly on Iraq.That more of the middle east, and the world in general hates our guts. The Iraqi invasion is the greatest recruiting campaign for Bin Laden, Hezbollah and other groups that have sprung into existence.

TO BE CONTINUED……………

[DavidGetsInvolved]

11:52 PM on 08/25/2007

Is this how we "win"....?????

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military on Saturday said coalition forces south of Baghdad found a site where people were executed and bodies dumped, as 10 more corpses were found in the Iraqi capital.

The discovery of the dumping site was made during an operation Tuesday through Thursday in the Arab Jabour area, where al Qaeda in Iraq has a presence.

"The ground forces found human skulls, decomposing bodies and bones wrapped in bloody clothes," the military said in a statement.
"Wild dogs were rampant around the area, which was characterized by a crater where most of the human remains were dumped.

Inside a nearby building, the ground forces found blood spatter and other signs indicating executions had taken place there."

Including Saturday's gruesome discovery in Baghdad, the total number of dumped bodies found in the city so far this month stands at 371.

Most were thought to be victims of sectarian violence that has been raging between Sunnis and Shiites.

As they discovered the execution site south of the Iraqi capital, coalition forces, helped by local Iraqis, also found a building thought to be a car bomb factory, the military said.

"Inside the compound, the ground forces found numerous items used to make and mix homemade explosives for use in car bombs. An airstrike destroyed the explosives cache."
----------------------------------------------

C'mom, cons/trolls/wahtever --- do the right things for once:

Join the side of peace and help stop the hate.

[nonewworldorder]

11:23 PM on 08/25/2007

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-schwartz/the-story-of-salee_b_61822.html

[HamletsMill]

11:20 PM on 08/25/2007

SNL is coming on here in 12 minutes. Probably a re-run. But my all time favorite show. I guess it has been my Jack Daniels every Saturday night all these years. Cheers to you JackSlappy and gotalife. Stay happy somehow in the small things of life and maybe, just maybe, big things will happen. I certainly hope so. Because this world is in very deep s**t right now.

[gotalife]

11:26 PM on 08/25/2007

I prefer Crown, oxys and some some good skunk but some friends were drinking 42 below Vodka and getting hammered. I think it is from New Zealand.

[JackSlappyNotYourPappy]

11:30 PM on 08/25/2007

Stoli's up ...

[Neoknot2u]

12:01 AM on 08/26/2007

Crown and Oxycontin. Nice mix there skippy.

[scaramouche]

11:13 PM on 08/25/2007

Drawdown? How many? When? Who says? We wait for Petrias? Aren't we tired of this dog and pony show by now? When are we going to understand that the U.S. does not ever intend to leave Iraq in any meaningful way. The hydrocarbon law which the Iraqis will not vote on, but which the U.S. needs to justify grabbing 70% of Iraq's known reserves, the billion dollar embassy we built behind ultra secure walls, and the geo-political quagmire this administration has embroiled us in, precludes any possibility that any meaningful change will occur during Bush's abysmal reign Or any successive administration for the for- seeable future. And the empty suits in congress know this too. While I'm at it I might as well state here and now that I don't believe there is any political courage or will on the part of either party to address this problem honestly with our american public. This problem will only be terminated when the Iraqi people decide that they want their country back and throw us the hell out of there themselves.

[JackSlappyNotYourPappy]

10:29 PM on 08/25/2007

I'm not your mammy
I'm not your pappy
In case you wondered
Bout ole Jack Slappy!

[gotalife]

10:54 PM on 08/25/2007

Jack slappy been slurpin the Jack Daniels.

Geez.

[JackSlappyNotYourPappy]

11:04 PM on 08/25/2007

Slurpin?

I beg your pardon!

It's a head on assault sparky!

[Grannysue]

10:18 PM on 08/25/2007

Did anyone in their right mind ever think for one minute that Bush/Cheney planned on drawing down troops from IRAQ? If you thought they were waiting for Gen. Beteras's report, yea right, they are buying time. They have two trails of thought going on, number one, stall until were out of office and they think untouchable. Two: Keep screaming about Iran loud and long so their neocon retards run all over Faux News and The Washington Post and tell everyone "If we don't nuke em, they are going to nuke us"!. Thus begins the beginning of the end. I don't want to sound too dramitic but look at where things are in this country, who in the hell is going to clean up this mess, Hillary? No. Because the Gonzo Group will be investigating her from Birth! Mitt: HAHAHAHAHAHA, still laughing!!!! We need someone young, fresh and ready to solve our major problems with a whole new outlook, unlike all those minions who have had their asses sealed to their seats in Washington, and their bank vaults filling up with lobbyist money! Everyone better pay attention and get rid of this group completely, I would say a good house cleaning is in order.
Because Bush and Cheney have no clue and frankly don't give a shit what any of us thinks. As far as those idiot NEOCONS spewing crap about the surge working. Keep drinking the kool aid fools, cause were all going down together!

[ExRepublican]

10:41 PM on 08/25/2007

Agree. But I'll tell you what....

I'm an old f'er. Could you slap a paragraph or two in there next time? A LOT of space is bad. Some space is good.

My eyes hurt.

[peacekitten]

10:13 PM on 08/25/2007

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082107E.shtml

[shockmagog]

10:01 PM on 08/25/2007

Bruce Fein,
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/profile.html
who was on today’s 7 Days in America (along with Arianna Huffington), thinks we should immediately begin impeachment hearings in order to investigate and hold hearings on Alberto Gonzales as a gateway to Bush/Cheney. The benefits would include that as more facts come out, more politicians would jump on board. Also, as what happened with Watergate (with Nixon finally being thwarted in his illegal incursions into Laos and Cambodia), Bush’s incursions into the Middle East would be thwarted. We know Congress is ineffective in withholding funds just as they were before Watergate. The impeachment hearings effectively hamstrung Nixon until he resigned.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-radio/air-americas-7-days-po_b_61818.html

[ExRepublican]

10:49 PM on 08/25/2007

Impeachment?

Nooo, the guy must be a nut.

DON'T HURT GWB. He's done no wrong (dem spokesman last week on radio), he didn't do anything wrong intentionally (dem spokesman last week on radio and many on here).

Plus:

* "We dont want to divide the country"
* "We don't have the votes"

Gosh, he/they jaywalked is all. Leave them alone. He/they are just doing their best to lead us. They are trying hard they just made a couple of bad decisions.

IF I was a conservative (never happen), I'd say many dems are f'n gutless and pansies and then STFU. Nothing else needs to be said.

WTF?

[peacekitten]

09:57 PM on 08/25/2007

critical thinking.

give it a whirl.

[Neoknot2u]

11:16 PM on 08/25/2007

Kitty needs a rub behind the ears.

[shag11]

09:54 PM on 08/25/2007

Who cares? They are both major asskissers anyway.

[RubberDuck]

10:12 PM on 08/25/2007

Major Asskisser, meet General Disaster.