WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2007
Report: Top Gen. To Advise Iraq Troop Cuts
Joint Chiefs Chairman Expected To Tell Bush Iraq Force Should Be Cut Almost In Half
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Play CBS Video Video Fate Of Iraq In The Balance The National Intelligence Estimate says there's been military progress in Iraq, but that political leaders still can't govern effectively. Bob Orr reports.
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Video Warner Calls For Withdrawal The leading Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee is calling for troops to start coming home from Iraq. Bob Schieffer tells Katie Couric that when Sen. Warner talks, Republicans listen.
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Video Bush Defends Iraq Policy President Bush defended Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's performance, as well as his own Iraq policy, saying he doesn't want Iraq to become another Vietnam. Bill Plante reports.
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Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace gestures during a news conference at the Pentagon in this July 13, 2007, file photo. (AP Photo/Heesoon Yim)
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A new intelligence assessment expresses deep doubts that the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki can overcome sectarian divisions and meet benchmarks intended to promote political unity. (AP)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
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Timeline Iraq Copter Crashes Some of the deadliest helicopter crashes in Iraq and Kuwait since the start of the war.
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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.
Gen. Peter Pace will make the recommendation to President Bush, the report says, a move that could pit the top military commander against the thinking of many senior White House officials as to how the Iraq war should be carried out.
The Times says administration and military officials have told the paper that Pace will express concerns of his subordinate Joint Chiefs that leaving more than 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq through next year could put too much of a strain on the military.
Pace's advice to Mr. Bush could directly challenge a report being prepared by the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, who is calling for sustained troop levels beyond 2008, the Times reports.
According to the newspaper, Pace is expected to give his advice to Mr. Bush privately, instead of making a formal report.
If the report is correct, and such a senior military official does contradict the Bush administration's stated strategy of keeping U.S. force levels high until there are signs of political reconciliation in Iraq, then it could serve to significantly strengthen the position of those who oppose the present course in the war.
On Thursday, senior Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia said President Bush should start bringing home some troops by Christmas, to show the Baghdad government that the U.S. commitment in Iraq is not open-ended. (Read more)
The move put the prominent Republican at odds with the president, who has insisted that conditions on the ground should dictate deployments.
Warner said the troop withdrawals are needed because Iraqi leaders have failed to make substantial political progress, despite an influx of U.S. troops initiated by Bush earlier this year.
Warner says the departure of even a small number of U.S. service members — perhaps 5,000 out of the 160,000 troops in Iraq — would send a powerful message throughout the region that time is running out.
But the U.S. military commander in one of Iraq's more troubled areas rejected Friday Warner's proposal — and by default, the expected advice of Pace — saying a withdrawal would mean "a giant step backward" in his region.
Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of troops south of Baghdad, said militants pushed from his sector in recent operations would quickly return.
"If coalition soldiers were to leave, having fought hard for that terrain, having denied the enemy their sanctuaries, what'd happen is the enemy would come back," said Lynch.
"He'd start building the bombs again, he'd start attacking the locals again and he'd start exporting that violence into Baghdad and we would take a giant step backward," Lynch told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Iraq.
He said recent gains resulted from the buildup of troops in Iraq and that he needs all the forces he has until Iraqis are able to step up and take over, perhaps some time next year.
President Bush has refused to set any dates for the beginning of a troop level reduction, insisting that the decision will be made based on the judgments of commanders in the field.
In other developments:
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 628 CommentsPosted by j-whitman at 02:30 PM : Aug 25, 2007
Here you go j'' "GOP Conservative"
Our mistake is thinking that after we invaded and bombed a country that those in it would cooperate and be our friends. We are not their friends. We are the real enemy. And whether Shia militia or Sunni or Taliban or Al Qaeda or Iranian spy, THE US is the real target and they just changed how they played that game. YOu gotta admit, Americans want to be liked and respected so much, that they convinced themselves that after attacking people who had done nothing to us, that they forgave us and wanted to help us.
Get the real picture--82% of Iraqis consistently want us gone. Guns and ammo ending up missing. Shia and Sunni surreptitiously attacking Americans. Iraqi Gov going on vacation and leaving the occupiers to fight for them. Billions in dollars missing. No one tells us where the IEDs are buried. No one helps us find the kidnapped no matter how much the reward. Get a clue America--they never stopped fighting.
Okay Army Major General Lynch: and what will you do if the Iraq military never stands up and never takes over? If they continue to take the training and arms and money and use it to outfit their own militias, take over bases and terrorize their own citizens? What then? Limp along year after year and reassure us that the ''next year'' will be the ''standing up year for the Iraqis.
The thing is ...the Iraqis HAVE been standing up for the past 6 years. Our training and weapons have ended up with insurgents. Intel about our troops have ended up with insurgents and Shia militia, and Iran is funding the Shia AND the Sunnis in Iraq. WAnt to know why?
see next post
Write and tell that to AIPAC as they brag about buying your Elected Representatives while American soldiers are being killed!
http://www.aipac.org/forms/join_aipacClubs.htm
Congress email http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
House Speakers email address: AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
Republican Party email info@gop.com
Democratic Party email democraticparty@democrats.org
Baucus, Max- (D - MT)
Biden, Joseph R., Jr.- (D - DE)
Durbin, Richard- (D - IL)
Harkin, Tom- (D - IA)
Johnson, Tim- (D - SD)
Kerry, John F.- (D %u2013 MA
Landrieu, Mary L.- (D - LA)
Lautenberg, Frank R.- (D - NJ)
Levin, Carl- (D - MI)
Pryor, Mark L.- (D - AR)
Reed, Jack- (D - RI)
Rockefeller, John D., IV- (D - WV)
Alexander, Lamar- (R - TN)
Allard, Wayne- (R - CO)
Chambliss, Saxby- (R - GA)
Cochran, Thad- (R - MS)
Coleman, Norm- (R - MN)
Collins, Susan M.- (R - ME)
Cornyn, John- (R - TX)
Craig, Larry E.- (R - ID)
Dole, Elizabeth- (R - NC)
Enzi, Michael B.- (R - WY)
Graham, Lindsey- (R - SC)
Hagel, Chuck- (R - NE)
Inhofe, James M.- (R - OK)
McConnell, Mitch- (R - KY)
Roberts, Pat- (R - KS)
Sessions, Jeff- (R - AL)
Smith, Gordon H.- (R - OR)
Stevens, Ted- (R - AK)
Sununu, John E.- (R - NH)
Warner, John- (R - VA)
SUPPORT AMERICAN FIRST
-- Since March when Democrats actually took Congress,, We''''ve gone from Wonderfull Accomplishments & You Can Shop In The Streets --- to --- How Fast Can We Pull Out & How Many To Leave Behind
Yet another wise General will be sacrificed by Bu$h to complete the Iraq/Iran Oil Grab...
No it was not rhetorical, it was sarcasm at the president.
"Because if we''d gone to Baghdad, we would have been all alone. There wouldn''t have been anybody else with us %u2014 it would have been a US occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq. Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein''s government, then what are you going to put in its place? That''s a very volatile part of the world.
And if you take down the central government in Iraq, you could easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it%u2026uh%u2026the Syrians would like to have in the West. Part of the eastern part of Iraq the Iranians would like to claim, fought over it for eight years. In the north, you''ve got the Kurds. If the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey. It''s a%u2026it''s a quagmire, if you go that far in trying to take over Iraq.
The other thing was casualties. Uh%u2026everyone was impressed with that fact that%u2026uh%u2026we were able to do our job with as few casualties as we had. But for the 146 Americans killed in action and for their families, it wasn''t a cheap war. And the question for the President in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad and took additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein, was how many additional dead Americans was Saddam worth? And our judgment was not very many, and I think we got that right." JUST FOR MONEY
Also in September, NORTHCOM conducted its highly classified Granite Shadow exercise in Washington. As William Arkin reported in the Washington Post, "Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military''s extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control."
It is clear that the Bush administration is thinking seriously about martial law.
Many critics have alleged that FEMA''s spectacular failure to respond to Katrina followed from a deliberate White House policy: of paring back FEMA, and instead strengthening the military for responses to disasters.
A multimillion program for detention facilities will greatly increase NORTHCOM''s ability to respond to any domestic disorders.
WAIT UNTIL BUSH/CHENEY CALL FOR MARTIAL LAW/ ITS COMMING
Who is more capable of assessing the "world military situation" the president or the generals? How many "generals" current and former have warned about "staying the course" in Iraq? The NIE report of 16 intel agencies is predicting more instablilty in the region in the next six to twelve mths.,The Chathman House report has essentially said Iraq is unwinnable with multiple civil wars raging Sunni on Shiite and vice versa Sunni on Sunni, Shiite on Shiite with multiple Arab nations instigating further turmoil coupled with AL Queda.It is beyond breaking into three provinces and is now breaking up into multiple provinces and the multiple civil wars continue. So where is a solution with as little bloodshed as possible for ALL? Staying is not helping and leaving will not help either? What a QUAGMIRE.
Repiglicons: America hater''s devoid of ANY CULTURE except GREED, HOMOPHOEBES, BIGOTS, PEDOPHILES, who''s "Israel First" policies make the USA the number one terrorist orgaanization on earth. And who''s no energy policy alternatives have brought US $3 gasoline. And who''s sell out to Corporate AMerica leaves over 47 million American''s without health insurance, paying 17% of GNP on health care, bringing US a faster rate of mortality than ever exeerienced in the USA. And thanks to the GOPigs we now have the worst public education system in the entire industrailized world. Also, look closely at the lack of culture and compassion of all Repiglicons that you know! No lower life form than a Repiglicon. NONE!
LIBERALS, POVERTY PIMPS, TERRORIST APOLOGISTS
JOIN THE PRIDE PARADE
HILLARY / BARAK 2008!
Posted by jowand at 11:26 AM : Aug 25, 2007
ARE you really THAT stupid? ROFLMAO I''m serious here you are getting beyond just rediculous and are now just plain STUPID! OF course a Nazi, the name of the party in Germany, was FASCIST! ROFLMAO EVERY German KNOWS this and knows fascism as well. I don''t suppose you can point to ONE, just ONE, history professional who will support your rants do you. Fascism isn''t a party, Italy and Spain both were fascist as well as the Nazi''s. LOL Do us all a favor Sparky! Go check out a copy of the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and READ it...that''s what I require EVERY first year student to do and you should do it as well. LOL You are dangerous to yourself! Honest! Things that EVERY 4th grade student KNOWS you aren''t knowledgable of... it''s so sad! Sieg Heil Y''all.
The Business Plot, The Plot Against FDR, or The White House Putsch, was an alleged conspiracy involving several wealthy businessmen to overthrow President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.
Purported details of the matter came to light when retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler testified before a Congressional committee that a group of men had attempted to recruit him to serve as the leader of a plot and to assume and wield power once the coup was successful. Butler testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee in 1934 [1]. In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of several men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. One of the alleged plotters, Gerald MacGuire, vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler''s allegations on the existence of the plot,[2] but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.
General Butler claimed that the American Liberty League was the primary means of funding the plot. The main backers were the Du Pont family, as well as leaders of U.S. Steel, General Motors, Standard Oil, Chase National Bank, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. A BBC documentary claims Prescott Bush, father and grandfather to the 41st and 43rd US Presidents respectively, was also connected.
wikipedia
Posted by skyk at 11:06 AM : Aug 25, 2007
Hitler wasn''t a Faschist he was a Nazi one of them other words you throw around. Eighty percent of the Germans loved Hitler too what does that tell you other than they are stupid.
Posted by skyk at 11:13 AM : Aug 25, 2007
Swift Boating, that when good people get pay back lying idiots like Kerry.
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