WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2007
Bush: Troops To Shift Into Support Roles
Move Will Be In Addition To Withdrawals, Democrat Responds Strategy Has Failed
-
-
Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility of cutting U.S. troop levels in Iraq to 100,000 by the end of next year. (CBS)
-
President Bush eats lunch with Marines during a visit to The Basic School at Quantico Marine Corps Base Friday, Sept. 14, 2007, in Quantico, Va. Bush visited the Marine base to reinforce his message over lunch with about 250 Marines, family members and commanders. (AP)
-
-
Play CBS Video Video Poor Progress In Iraq
The White House reports that goals for progress in Iraq have not been met. Jim Axelrod reports.
-
Video Frustrated Military Families
Parents of troops in Iraq react with doubt and hope to Bush's speech. Dean Reynolds reports on the divided loyalties these parents must live with every day their children are away from home.
-
Video Bush: Time For Troop Return
CBS News RAW: Speaking from Quantico Marine Base in Quantico, Va., President Bush said there has been enough progress in Iraq to justify bringing some troops home by Christmas.
-
Photo Essay Scrutinizing The Surge Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, U.S. ambassador testify before Congress.
-
Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
But the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee responded that the president's war strategy has failed and a new one is needed.
In December, the U.S. will begin a new military phase in Iraq - one in which "our troops will shift over time from leading operations to partnering with Iraqi forces, and eventually to overwatching those forces," Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Mr. Bush was following the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
In a televised speech Thursday, Bush announced he had approved Petraeus' plan to withdraw 5,700 troops from Iraq by the holidays and reduce the force from 20 combat brigades to 15 brigades by July 2008.
On Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates raised the possibility of cutting U.S. troop levels in Iraq to 100,000 or so by the end of next year - well beyond the cuts Mr. Bush announced in his speech Thursday.
Gates stressed that the 100,000 troop number is his hope, not an administration plan, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod. He said it was possible that conditions in Iraq would improve enough to merit much deeper troop cuts than currently are scheduled for 2008.
The defense secretary confirmed that he was referring to cutting from the projected level of 15 combat brigades in July to 10 brigades at the end of 2008, and that this would translate to roughly 100,000 troops.
It was the first time a member of Bush's war Cabinet had publicly suggested such deep reductions, perhaps offering a conciliatory hand to anti-war Democrats and some wary Republicans in Congress who have been pushing for troop reductions, a change in the U.S. mission and an end to the war.
Next week, the Senate is expected to resume debate on anti-war legislation.
Still, the administration insists that any decisions about cutting U.S. troops will be guided by conditions on the ground, not political reasons or pressure from Congress.
"If we were to be driven out of Iraq, extremists of all strains would be emboldened," Mr. Bush said. "Al Qaeda could find new recruits and new sanctuaries. And a failed Iraq could increase the likelihood that our forces would someday have to return - and confront extremists even more entrenched and even more deadly.
"By contrast, a free Iraq will deny al Qaeda a safe haven. It will counter the destructive ambitions of Iran. And it will serve as a partner in the fight against terrorism."
Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Bush's war strategy had failed so far, and a new direction is needed.
"We and the American people already know that the situation in Iraq is grim, and the growing majority of this Congress and of the American people want our troops out," Lantos said in the Democrats' weekly radio address. "Strategically, the escalation has failed."
Lantos argued that the military buildup the president ordered in January was intended to buy time for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other political leaders to find a way to resolve their differences and end civil strife. But political reconciliation has only inched forward since January, Lantos said.
"We can expect the administration to continue asking for more money, more patience and more sacrifices from our troops - all in the belief that our continued intervention in Iraq will eventually bear fruit," Lantos said. "But this approach is not a strategy, and Americans' patience with this war has run out."
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.
Add a Comment See all 992 Comments
- VOTE FOR JEFFERSON%u2026 VOTE GOP%u2026
dnc are like john adams and want to give the jihadist their lunch money hoping they will leave us alone....
gop are like thomas jefferson and want to spend their lunch money on weapons and go kick the jihadists in their arses.....
What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of jihad
Thomas Jefferson knew about fascist nazi islam..... he killed plenty of them....
In 1786 Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli''s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman or (Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). They asked him by what right he extorted money and took slaves. Jefferson reported to Secretary of State John Jay, and to the Congress:
The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet (Mohammed), that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to heaven.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
muslim justifies slavery and piracy%u2026
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-6a71-4436-bc4d-29d1c54b0ad7
MUSLIM PIRATES STRIKE AGAIN
http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2005/06/muslim-pirates-strike-again.html - Reply to this comment
cfin5,
Re: "They probably monitor this stuff with someone there on day shift. I''m sure they will do something monday morning."
I doubt it. Someone (administrator) just recently disabled the comments of the "Suspect Arrested In Death Of Sunni Leader" for no apparent reason, other than to disrupt the discussion. They are reading these comments, and allowing/endorsirng the disruptive flooding and spamming of some posters, if they are not doing it themselves.
"screen_name_" vanishes for a moment, just as "arse008" appears. Same-same.- Reply to this comment
- Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, in one of his speeches arguing in favor of invading Iraq, he explained the dilemma something to this effect:
Let%u2019s say one day you go to a man%u2019s home and enter his bedroom. In the top drawer of his night table you find a gun, which he admits he owns. Now let%u2019s say a month later you go to that same man%u2019s house and go to his bedroom. You look in the dresser drawer and the gun isn%u2019t there. You ask him %u201Cwhere%u2019s the gun?%u201D If he says, %u201Cwhat gun? I don%u2019t know anything about a gun,%u201D you can%u2019t just say %u201COk%u201D and take his word for it. He had the gun before, so one of two things happened. Either he still has the gun and hid it somewhere, or he disposed of the gun, in which case he should be able to explain how he disposed of it. But in no case, can you conclude that the gun never existed in the first place.
Yet, that is exactly what Saddam Hussein did, and somehow the left still found him credible. Bush must be the one who lied!
This is the question: since at some point Saddam Hussein admitted that he had stockpiles of WMD, how could he have subsequently made them vanish into thin air without a trace, without documentation, without evidence of destruction, without residual contamination, and without witnesses?
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=26457045-1E9E-4795-9D31-0E5B73E74EE9 - Reply to this comment
- sign the petition...
Support Free Speech, Support Lars Vilks Petition, hosted at petitiononline.com.
http://www.petitiononline.com/vilks/petition.html
http://www.vilks.net/ - Reply to this comment
- Magnus Gahnstrvm We have to defend our democratic rights against religious faschism. The swedish government must act now.
LEIF LJUNGKVIST PEOPLE SHALL BE FREE TO SAY AND THINK WHAT THEY WANT
Bjorn Danielsson When foreign jihadists solicit murder, a military response is appropriate.
Kevin North Islam is not a race, Islam is not a religion. Islam is a megalomaniacal socio-political doctrine not unlike Facism. It relies upon fear, hatred and a systemic supremecist ideology to spread around the world. Islam should be made illegal in every civilized country.
Jon Dear Unless we stand together, the freedoms we inherited will be lost to this cult that threatens murder at every opportunity.
Andreas E. Islam: the new nazism
Josef Fransson Islam = Nazism & kommunism
Stewart C. Sawyer Protect your rights, OUTLAW ISLAM!!!!!
Marcus Eriksson Stop taking the "lesser" muslims side by calling them victims! This is an open declaration of war on free speech, democracy and our economy!
Julius Balogh This Swedish CITIZEN needs his rights protected from these foreign terrorists. When will the government protect its own people? Defend Swedes from islamic immigrants who seek to overthrow your nation using your own laws against you. Outlaw islam today and send home all muslims to their homelands. All other religions are outlawed so why do we tolerate seditionist islam in our borders? Islam is a political cult posing as a religion. - Reply to this comment
- Bush, Petraeus and the rest of the Washington Regime are essentially saying the same thing to the American People that one trapper told another one in DEATH HUNT--''You''re so dumb, I could sell you dirt.''
As the Democrats try to sell the continuation of the Stupid Peoples'' War for Oil, Israel and Opium, as a "withdrawal," the Republicans have joined in the game, though they are somewhat more vague than the Democrats, promising every option between ''staying forever'' and having ''100,000'' in Iraq--saying nothing about Afghanistan--by the end of 2008.
Its time to bring the troops home--NOW!! The war is immoral...it is an illegitimate war of aggression based on lies, lies, lies, lies and more lies. Former Secretary of Treasury, Paul O''Neil, reported that from the very beginning Bush wanted a reason to hit Iraq--even before he claimed that ''God told him to strike at it.''
Greenspan admits that the war was for oil--but that is only less than half the truth....it was for Israel and it was to make sure that Iraq''s plan to price oil in Euros was abandonned which would have been a serious challenge to dollar dominance--just as the Iranian scheme and the Russian revolt against the dollar coming as they are against continued trade deficits and record deficits have lead to the current valuation crisis for the dollar. Greenspan suggests raising interest rates to the roof...that will ''help''...just like it did in 1929. - Reply to this comment
- It is clear who is winning the war and who is in full control of the situation.
One video tape of OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN''''S speech changed BUSH''''s war policy and is now ready to withdraw about 100,000 troops by the end of 2008.
Al-Qaida didn''''t only win the war Militraily but culturally also. Just like Al-Qaida, Americans hate women wearing revealing dresses, hate POP-CULTURE, oppose HOMOSEXUAL''''s right of MARRIAGE, WOMEN''''s right of choosing ABORTION, HOLLY WOOD CULTURE and CELEBRITIES like BRITNEY SPEARS , etc.
How could the best military in the world with the best and most sophisticated equipments, loose war against an enemy who doesn''t have ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE, MARINE and COAST GUARD? - Reply to this comment
This is a lie a distraction cover a sound bite. General Pet made no such recommendation. Bush is pathological and will say anything to stall he can not be trusted. This is a fail unethical amoral man accept and move on. Congress and the people cna only do so much to stop his poltical schemes.
Greenspan sums it up well the GOP swapped principle for power and the Bush administration was so captive to its own political operation that it paid little attention to fiscal discipline and I would add or anything else.
Bush and his cultist followers have been wrong on almost everyhting.- Reply to this comment
- While "formidable challenges" remain in Iraq, President Bush said Saturday, the United States will start shifting more troops into support roles - in addition to the troop withdrawals announced earlier in the week.
It is clear who is winning the war and who is in full control of the situation.
One video tape of OSAMA BEEN-FORGOTTEN''S speech changed BUSH''s war policy and is now ready to withdraw about 100,000 troops by the end of 2008.
Al-Qaida didn''t only win the war Militraily but culturally also. Just like Al-Qaida, Americans hate women wearing revealing dresses, hate POP-CULTURE, oppose HOMOSEXUAL''s right of MARRIAGE, WOMEN''s right of choosing ABORTION, HOLLY WOOD CULTURE and CELEBRITIES like BRITNEY SPEARS , etc. - Reply to this comment
- SharnCedar,....."GREEN''SPAM" would fit good too. The one thing that I recall when we were doing well in the mid to late 90''s is the Feds started lecturing us of how "overheated" the economy was and had to do something about it......Well, they did all right as history will vouch. The man with the gold makes the rules people. They care/worry not which presidential candidate wins the election. They control both sides the same way you control your right and left arm. And that''s a sunday''morning fact.
- Reply to this comment
- "Greenspan Is Critical Of Bush in Memoir
Former Fed Chairman Has Praise for Clinton"
OMG. Are you people a bunch of suckers. Greemspan *of course* is now critical of bush and pro-Hillary, as always, Greedspan is a big fat liar, who is always on the side of whoever is winning or appears to be winning. This is his whole false and harmful career. Whne Bush was up, there was no more pro-Bush guy on earth than Greedspawn. now that deficits are a problem, Greedscum is all about blaming everyone from Republicans to the tooth fairy for the deficits. At the time we were running up those big deficits, I distinctly remember that decrepit and dirty old man coming out and saying the deficits were no big deal, the trade imbalances were not big deal, and I remember his big lie that they didn''t matter becasue they were historically small compared to GDP. I rmeember thinking what dirty, rotten, selfish liar we had for a Fed chairman, a man who would tell any kind of lie to keep himself in favor with the powerful.
Here he is, a dirty scoundrel, one of the real masterminds of the runiation of our economic power, and again he is telling lies to curry favor. And blaming everyone but himself for his own evil.
This is the first guy we should try for hate crimes against America, although he will likely be dead before sensible people run this country. - Reply to this comment
- LOOK WHO IS TARGETING CIVILIANS!!!
Qaeda warns of attacks ''worse than 9/11''
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070530102648.wuwa6k96&show_article=1
Hizbullah Deputy Sec-Gen Sheikh Naim Qassem: We Have Jurisprudent Permission to Carry Out ''Martyrdom'' Operations, Fire Missiles on Israeli Civilians From Ayatollah Khomeini
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD154907
Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp
But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.
"It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.
Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.
The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108
American Al Qaeda Member Threatens Attack
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/29/terror/main2865282.shtml - Reply to this comment
- Mornin y''all. I see the idiot was still around. Man, did Greenspan drop some bombs or what? Seems like that happens a lot once those admin. types retire. Like, now I can tell America the real poop. We needed the real stuff at the time. Al liked G. Ford the best. And what he says about Nixon is a hoot. We found out that dink had two faces, but Al seen ''em.
- Reply to this comment
- Greenspan also doesn''t spare Republicans in Congress, who he says were "feeding at the trough," passing expensive pet projects for their home districts. For this, he says, they "deserved to lose" control of Congress to the Democrats in 2006.
"The Republicans in Congress lost their way," he says. "They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither."
Something the new congress should remember if their wallets don''t gravitate them down. - Reply to this comment
- Is screen_name_ still around ?
screen_name_ has been shutting down Comments sections by posting one inane pro-war message hundreds of times in succession. This is Internet Vandalism, a felony punishable under law.
Repeated resorts to "+report abuse" have been ineffectual.
I''ll give CBS the benefit of the doubt until next week.
If the Nazi tactics of screen_name_ are allowed to persist into next week, then I will be outa here.
I would be willing to do the work, pro bono, of altering the software here to detect and stop repetitive posting like that.
I would do that for free. - Reply to this comment
- Greenspan Is Critical Of Bush in Memoir
Former Fed Chairman Has Praise for Clinton
The dollar is at the lowest ebb on 16th September 2007 against all
currency. What is more there is a demo in the Washington about the war
in Iraq. Now if I see this in the TV. I have many thoughts running in
my mind. What is happening to the strong dollar that dominated the
world? The Senate is upset and the majors of the wars who are more
experienced then the president state," We are draining our money and
men if we continue. Look buddy we still have Katrina and others to
settle down in their residents, we have SEC not doing too good a job,
Afghanistan soldiers as per SKY TV seem to be having very bad time and
what is more they seem to be corrupted. The idea is to stay on in
Afghanistan and get rich by the Poppy crop and teach as less as
possible to the Afghan soldiers."
Sir with this how can dollar see the silver lining. In fact
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 %u2014 Alan Greenspan, who was chairman of the Federal
Reserve for nearly two decades, in a long-awaited memoir, is harshly
critical of President Bush, Vice President *** Cheney and the
Republican-controlled Congress, as abandoning their party''s principles
on spending and deficits. - Reply to this comment
- "If you want peace, prepare for war"
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum - Reply to this comment
- The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal warmonger. Theodore Roosevelt
- Reply to this comment
- MUHAMMAD ALI BABA CALLS OUT TO HIS SATANIC GOD ON HIS DEATH BED...
allah obviously not the same God as the Christians and Jews.......
When the last moment of the prophet was near, he used to draw a sheet over his face; but when he felt uneasy, he removed it from his face and said: "Allah''''s damnation be on the Jews and the Christians who made the graves of their prophets objects of worship."
Muhammad attacked Khaibar. He destroyed, tortured, murdered, plundered, and enslaved many people (ref Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, volume 2, page 134, 136, 137). They were not preparing to attack him. A Jewish woman, whose family had been wiped out by Muhammad, put poison into a lamb and fed it to Muhammad and the other Muslims. Muhammad ingested some of the poisoned lamb and began to feel it''''s effects. He died three years later as a result of the poisoning.
Muhammad was not a real prophet, he was a false prophet. He died as a result of eating poison that he didn''''t know about. The poisoned lamb "spoke" to him too late. Only when he realized he was dying did Muhammad "spiritualize" his suffering and coming death. Prior to that he tried to get well.
http://www.answering-islam.de/Main/Silas/mo-death.htm
http://www.answering-islam.de/Main/index.html - Reply to this comment
- Good night, more news tomorrow
- Reply to this comment
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
