Army Extends Tours For Active Duty Troops
Gates: Increase In Soldiers' Tours From 12 Months To 15 Will Meet Troop Demands In Iraq, Afghanistan
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Play CBS Video Video Longer Deployments For Troops Defense Secretary Robert Gates extended active Army troops' stay from 12 to 15 months as a result of short supply. The White House is also having trouble finding a 'War Czar.' David Martin reports.
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Video Extended Duty Plan Unveiled Defense Secretary Robert Gates unveiled a new policy that will keep active duty Army soliders in Iraq and Afghanistan deployed for three extra months. Susan Roberts reports.
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Video Bush: Clock Ticking In Iraq CBS News RAW: Speaking at the American Foreign Legion in Virginia, President Bush said progress in Iraq is hindered by Democrats' refusal to pass a war funding bill he will sign.
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A U.S. soldier with the 1st Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Batallion, 9th Regiment B troop, patrols a street separating a Shiite and a Sunni Muslim stronghold, a few blocks from Baghdad's Haifa Street, March 29, 2007. (Getty Images/Patrick Baz)
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Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
The change, announced Wednesday by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, is the latest blow to an all-volunteer Army that has been given ever-shorter periods of rest and retraining at home between overseas deployments.
Rather than continue to shrink the at-home intervals to a point that might compromise soldiers' preparedness for combat, Gates chose to lengthen combat tours to buy time for units newly returned from battle.
"Our forces are stretched, there's no question about that," Gates said.
The extended tours are a price the Army must pay to sustain the troop buildup that President Bush ordered in January as part of his re-jiggered strategy for stabilizing Baghdad and averting a U.S. defeat. Troop levels are being boosted from 15 brigades to 20 brigades, and in order to keep that up beyond summer the Army faced harsh choices: either send units to Iraq with less than 12 months at home, or extend tours.
Reaction on Capitol Hill to Gates' announcement was harsh.
Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the longer tours will have a "chilling effect" on recruiting and the Army's ability to keep soldiers from quitting the service.
"We also must not underestimate the enormous negative impact this will have on Army families," Skelton said.
Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, one of only two Republicans who voted to set a timetable for beginning to withdraw troops from Iraq, said Gates' announcement was a "stark admission that the administration's policies in Iraq are doing permanent damage to our military."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who supports the troop buildup, said of the affected soldiers, "They'll be disappointed, but they'll do it."
Indeed, at Fort Hood, Texas, home of the 4th Infantry Division, some Army families took the news in stride.
Carol Frennier, whose husband, Command Sgt. Maj. Steve Frennier, is in Iraq, said she had prepared herself and her family for a longer deployment.
"They kind of told us to expect 12 months to 18 months," she said. "We were already prepared to have them extended." And her family has been through an extended tour of duty before.
"Last time they said nine months, and it was 14 months," Frennier said.
It's not just soldiers that are in short supply, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. The White House is having a hard time finding a retired general to become a new czar to coordinate war strategy for both Iraq and Afghanistan.
At least five retired generals have said "no," Martin reports, some citing personal reasons. But one of them, Retired Marine Jack Sheehan, said he turned it down because "I don't think they've got a coherent strategy."
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The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 193 CommentsPeople where I work, who use to go around bragging they help put a Repub. in office and what GREAT changes were going to be made, are no longer heard from. They hang their heads low when people at the breakroom start talking about what a blunder has been made by this adminisration and how dishonest it been. People who put him in--are you proud now? If you are--go to Iraq and trade places with our men and women. See how it feels to have to sleep with one eye open and a gun at your fingertips. Be frightened if any cars come down the road or even a woman or child walking; they could have bombs on them. Would our President be willing to spend the rest of the war over there with the common soldier and live as they do?
This is NOT supporting our troops!!
This is using them as cannon fodder for their NeoCon imperial War, based on LIES. A needless War, a horrific War that has left us less safe, 3,200 dead troops (that is NOT how you "support the troops"), $600 Billion wasted, a couple hundred thousand dead Iraqis.
When will America stand up and demand impeachment and JAIL for these Murderous Thugs - Cheney and Bush?!
Take the coffins of our dead soldiers and line them up end to end and they will go on and on for 4 miles! Think about it next time you are driving along the highway. For FOUR MILES imagine the coffins rushing past you, each with grieving families, fatherless kids.
BUSH AND CHENEY belon in JAIL for LYING us into this Disaster.
Worst American President EVER? DUH! Throw him and Cheney in JAIL where they belong.
Here's what going to happen: At some point the U.S. will announce that the Iraqis are ready to fend to themselves, declare "victory", redeploy (as opposed to withdraw) the troops, and wash their hands clean. The Iraq gov't takes another year or so to collapse, at which point the U.S. will try to blame the Iraqis for their failure.
Just like Vietnam.
Thanks for the email addresses!
If you think Americas sacrifice is worth it contact your ELECTED OFFICIAL and tell them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Th
e House Speakers email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
info@go
p.com Here is the Republican Party email address too!
democraticparty@democrats.org Here is the Democratic Party email address also!
It is not anti Semitic to believe there are millions of other good people in the Middle East with valid concerns!
Even Eisenhower had problems with Israeli groups but he did not let them buy him!
READ AS THEY BRAG ABOUT THEIR INFLUENCE ON OUR GOVERNMENT!
http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipacClubs.htm
Founded in 1953 by Isaiah L. "Si" Kenen, AIPAC's original name was the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs. According to UCLA political science professor and author, Steven Spiegel, "the tension between the Eisenhower administration and Israeli supporters was so acute that there were rumors that the administration would investigate the American Zionist Council. Therefore, an independent lobbying committee was formed, which years later was renamed [AIPAC]." [SPIEGEL, p. 52].[citation needed] Today, AIPAC has over 100,000 members.[1]
Activities and stated goals
AIPAC's stated purpose is to lobby the Congress of the United States on issues and legislation "to ensure that the U.S.-Israel relationship is strong so that both countries can work together" to meet the challenges of "stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, fighting terrorism and achieving peace".[2] AIPAC has been effective in gaining support for Israel among members of Congress and White House administrations.
The New York Times described AIPAC on July 6, 1987 as "a major force in shaping United States policy in the Middle East."
"I don't think they've got a coherent strategy," Sheehan told me, adding "the real issue is does Cheney play in this deal?" In other words, will the "war czar" have to do daily battle with the Vice President, a battle in which the VP has all the clout?
No general, even one who is not a critic of the strategy, would want to be "war czar." Generals are used to giving orders and having them followed or else. The "war czar" would be, to use Gates' terms, "a coordinator and a facilitator," which in bureaucratic terms means he would be responsible for making all agencies pull together but would have no authority to make it happen.
He would be, in other words, a four-star nagger.
THEY MADE A MISTAKE IN WHAT WAS SAID.
HE WOULD BE, IN OTHER WORDS, A FOUR-STAR
N/I/G/G/E/R/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!
HE WAS JUST BEING POLITAIL CORRECT.. NO ONE WANT TO SAY THE TRUTH..I WILL....
AND ITS TIME THAT ALL OUR MEDIA START REPORTING THIS....
They said it would be the "withholding of funds that would extend the tours of duty" but now they ORDER extended tours.
The Bushies have decimated our military! They have weakened us.
IMPEACH NOW!
SO I HAVE TRYED AND STILL TRYING TO HELP OUR TROOPS GET OUT OF THIS..
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