« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Today's Must Read
After all that talk, finally a decision. Behold, America, your new (sort of) way forward in Iraq:
President Bush plans to announce today that he will cut Army combat tours in Iraq from 15 months to 12 months, returning rotations to where they were before last year's troop buildup in an effort to alleviate the tremendous stress on the military, administration officials said.The move is in response to intense pressure from service commanders who have expressed anxiety about the toll of long deployments on their soldiers and, more broadly, about the U.S. military's ability to confront unanticipated threats. Bush will announce the decision during a national speech, in which aides said he will also embrace Army Gen. David H. Petraeus's plan to indefinitely suspend a drawdown of forces.
The twin decisions may set the course for U.S. policy in Iraq through the fall and perhaps for the rest of Bush's presidency....
The bottom line seems to be that after pulling out the extra forces Bush sent last year, the United States will keep about 140,000 troops in Iraq at least through the November presidential election....
But Bush's decision will affect only those troops sent to Iraq as of Aug. 1 or later, meaning that those already there still have to complete 15-month tours. Bobby Muller, president of Veterans for America, an advocacy group, said that nearly half of the Army's active-duty frontline units are currently deployed for 15 months, and that Bush's decision leaves them out.
And how will you know whether things are going well, well enough to expect any troop withdrawals before the end of the year? As Gen. David Petraeus made abundantly clear this week, it's not clear. It's a lack of clarity shared at the highest levels of the administration:
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the administration had abandoned the benchmarks [Congress set for Iraq] as a strict standard of progress because establishing a secure Iraq would also depend on factors other than political and military progress.Over two days of testimony, General Petraeus repeatedly was asked to explain the conditions that would allow further withdrawals, but he answered that they were not based on some easily defined measurements.
Asked for elaboration, the senior administration official said, "It's a very hard concept to explain publicly because it doesn't feature a sort of setting of the dial. It features what we call a running assessment."
Bush is set to speak at 11:30 this morning.
Josh
Zachary
I'm not surprised that the MSM picked up THIS ADDITIONAL LIE that dubya is peddling as something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than the truth.
THIS DOES NOT APPLY to folks that deployed BEFORE AUGUST 2008... Of course no one is focusing on this issue - BULL SHIT ALERT !!!
April 10, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Capitalizing words like that causes so people to ignore your posts.
April 10, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
PARTS of a post put in caps for emphasis doesn't bother ME. I do it TOO sometimes.
April 10, 2008 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Saying the tours will be "cut" is like wearing shoes that are one size too small after you've been wearing them two sizes too small! It's still not bringing them home!
April 10, 2008 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
It takes only a moment's math to realize that this is another bad check that Bush is writing for someone else to cover. If he stops drawing down troops, as Petraeus has recommended, then the 12-month rotations can't happen. But by backdating the 12-month deal till August, Bush keeps the status quo till after the elections.
Then the next president (whom Bush couldn't care less about, but likely expects to be a democrat) will be faced with either an immediate, not-very-well-organized reduction in troop strength to fulfill the 12-month promise, or else a return to longer rotations, either of which will be a mess for the armed forces and an opportunity for the right wing noise machine to start attacking the new administration before it's even in place.
This is pure spite; it's like selling your car to someone and putting sugar in the gas tank just before you turn over the keys.
April 10, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
No one—save possibly Fred Kagan and his fellow analysts*—would claim that the resource pool of available personnel is growing. It is, in fact shrinking slowly, unable to maintain stasis.
Given that the frequency of redeployment is directly related to the length of existing deployments, shorter tours simply mean a return to the combat zone sooner than redeployment would have otherwise occurred. Shorter tours mean nothing more than shorter dwell times and more frequent deployment over time. Even a relative moron like President Bush should be able to do the math…
*'serious military analysts' with NO prior military experience whatsoever
April 10, 2008 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
From the AP this morning:
"U.S. soldiers are committing suicide at record levels, young officers are abandoning their military careers, and the heavy use of forces in Iraq has made it harder for the military to fight conflicts that could arise elsewhere."
Just keep on slapping those ribbon-shaped "God Bless Our Troops" stickers on the backs of your SUVs! That should solve the problem. We sure as heck don't want our Congress to "choose to lose" in Iraq. Besides, those suiciders and deserters are going to hell anyway-we'll just say a prayer for their souls. It's the best us good Christians can do.
April 10, 2008 10:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's so very easy for Bush to claim he'll cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months. He won't be around to see it through. If the next, hopefully Democratic President, is unable to keep this promise the Right will make like howler monkeys.
-AF
Andrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
April 10, 2008 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
By the way, I love the link sponsored by Senator McConnell's Senate Committee 2008 to the right. I decided to follow it, and politely post some expression of how I felt about General Petraeus. You've got to love the robotic, non-human nature of this technology! Here is a note in response to my submission:
"Michael,
Thanks so much for filling out our online card in support of General Petraeus. We want General Petraeus and the troops he leads to know we stand with them, and your participation is an important part of sending that message.
We will send the following message to General Petraeus on your behalf:
As a Vietnam era veteran with five years of active service and ten years of active reserve component service, I will withhold my expression of gratitude to General Petraeus. He has, in fact, failed repeatedly in his mission assignments in the Iraqi theater, and failed to lead his troops out of this morass. Thank him? Are you serious? I cannot wait until he is relieved of his command!
Thanks again for your help.
Paid for by McConnell Senate Committee 2008"
You've got to love the means by which the Republican leadership has embraced the internet!
April 10, 2008 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
O wow - the new new new Bush and the new new new war.
Same as the old Bush and old war. What a surprise!!!!!
fuck you you contemptible chimpanzee in a suit.
April 10, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Wish I'd kept track of how many of those automated responses I have gotten in answer to bitching. My idiotic Congressman, Jeb Hensarling, never fails to thank me for insulting the shit out of him every time I contact him.
April 10, 2008 11:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why, that GDCSMF. (pushin it today...but slowly feeling better...!)
Karma's going to be a real b*tch, or as McCain would say to his wife, a real trollop and a...ah nevermind!
April 10, 2008 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
The needle is off the chart on the Crap-o-Meter.
The "Sons of Iraq"?
April 10, 2008 11:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, when no benchmarks are met, run from benchmarks.
They can't explain SHIT publicly. Or privately.
April 10, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
I too responded to McConnell's thank you note canard. I pointed out that the Senator was promoting his re-election agenda on the backs of US troops.
I offered my opinion that he should be ashamed of himself and that he reresented the worst impulses in American politics. I signed it Kroch O'Shite.
Sen McConnell thanked me too. Personally.
April 10, 2008 11:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
There are no benchmarks in use, because there isn't the slightest intention by this administration to ever see US troops out of Iraq. Why do you think we built that huge embassy there? As far as Bushco is concerned, the situation is a McCain has outlined it - 100 years, 1000 years, even 10,000 years is our timeline for withdrawal.
If only we can get an honorable Democratic administration in place next year we can change that timeline. The debate will soon start over what the new timeline will be.
April 10, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mayor Quimby: "Ducking this issue calls for real leadership!"
And six years later, this peice of sh*t is going to skate out of office basically leaving the status quo in Iraq. It is almost impossible for me to express how little respect I have for Bush as a leader, and as a man. He thinks that being a man is talking in a ridiculous accent and waving around a chainsaw on his ranch.
Being a man is the same whether you're a garbage man or the POTUS: it's about taking responsibility for your duties, taking care of the people who rely on you, and cleaning up your messes.
(sorry to be gender-centric)
I avoid the "worst ever" hyperbole, but he has to be without a doubt in the bottom 3 or 4. Dick Cheney may be the worst VP ever. What a collosal 8-year disaster this has been. If only his foolhardy military adventure could end with his term.
April 10, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anybody heating the tar? Who's got some feathers?
April 10, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans want success with no way to measure it. They have the gall to stand there after 5 years of f'n everything they touch up and say they are the right choice to lead this country.....completely insane,...I would take my chances on anyone off the street before I ever trust a republican to have any competence and ever more important a grain of honesty. Why do I get the feeling that everything they say,...the exact opposite is closer to the truth. I said this again, like many people,...what benchmarks have been set and met? Then give them a grade,...if the grade passes then all the better,...if they grade fails,...get rid of them!
April 10, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Creature reiterated in its "speech" today that we buggered out of 'Nam too soon. What cowards some of us are! Look to your fearless LEADER, America, if you got no balls of your own! Geez, ya sissies.
You know...bush/cheney pulled it off, didn't they. What could never be done. ANOTHER VIETNAM. America, who would never tolerate another Vietnam, is tolerating another Vietnam. The whole length of it, right down our gullets, and us likin it just fine.
I know, I know. This might not get posted. Had to try it anyway...it helps lower my B/P.
April 10, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gotta love the "sons of Iraq" thing. Just a year or so ago these "sons" were blowing up American soldiers and marines with IEDs. Now they're our friends and beloved "sons". Puh-leeze.
I think the only thing we have in common with the "sons" is that they hate Shiite Iran as much as the Bush Admin does.
April 10, 2008 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congress is throwing jello at a moving wall. Stop. The President, by changing the criteria, admits his revised plans have not only failed, but ignored the Baker-Hamilton warnings. Vietnam and Iraq are the stories of recklessly adjusting perceptions. Sustained combat losses within a flawed Presidential military strategy are not exceptional cases or perceptions, but impeachable offenses.
April 10, 2008 6:54 PM | Reply | Permalink