Pentagon Likely to Raise Iraq Troops

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/08/AR2005080800558.html

Pentagon Likely to Raise Iraq Troops

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Before the Pentagon begins reducing troop levels in Iraq next year it probably will increase them this fall to provide extra security for a planned October referendum and a December election, a Pentagon official said Monday.

Lawrence Di Rita, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, noted that troop levels were raised last January during Iraq's first elections, and then returned to the current level of about 138,000 several weeks later.

"It's perfectly plausible to assume we'll do the same thing for this election," he said, while stressing that no decisions have been made.

Di Rita said he did not know how many extra troops might be needed during the referendum and election period.

<</SNIP>>

[Walt Starr]

1. Trciky tricky. I see how they'll get that 30,000 number

They'll increase troop levels by 45,000, then decrease them by 30,000 and declare victory!

[sabra]

2. they did that last January...

[Up2Late]

5. You're exactly right, their is nothing else to say...

...except "Wake up America," get out your hip boots, the BS is about to get deep.

[MidwestTransplant]

6. While Faux News cheers the victory

[Ian David]

7. Isn't that the same thing department stores do before a "sale"? n/t

[Inland]

8. Did the same thing with the deficit.

Kept saying they would halve the deficit while it was going up: now halving the very largest deficit gets us back to the deficit we had the FIRST time they wanted to halve the deficit.

What they should do is say, we will have 110.000 troops in Iraq.

[cliss]

3. (scratches head in wonderment)

Let's look at this for a moment. Here, the U.S. is setting up a government in Iraq. There's going to be a referendum and a December election. There's a concern about the troop levels.

What business do we have doing this? When you start to analyze this, it's laughable.

The US if ANYBODY, should know that it's despicable to be a colonizer, an occupier. This is such a joke.

[saigon68]

45. They are installing the BUSH CRIMINALS "Puppet Govt"

No more no less

[daleo]

4. Raise them first, then drop them

With a little judicious choice of base period for comparison, an increase can be turned into a decrease (as far as press releases and the corporate media are concerned).

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. "I voted for the 86 Billion - before I voted against it!"

[Inland]

10. I decreased it after I increased it. nt

[Moderator]

11. kick

[Ernesto]

12. Pentagon Plans to Send More Troops to Iraq

WASHINGTON - Anticipating a new burst of insurgent violence, the Pentagon plans to expand the U.S. force in Iraq to improve security for a planned October referendum and a December election.

Although much public attention has been focused recently on the prospect of reducing U.S. forces next spring and summer, defense officials foresee the likelihood of first increasing troop levels.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050808/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_us_military

[meganmonkey]

13. Fuzzy math

More troops now, send a few home later - see we're reducing troops! :puke:

[KeepItReal]

26. Just like: getting rid of tax cuts = tax increase

They keep burring the vision, huh?

[rodeodance]

14. next summer ----just in the nick of time for the O6 elections,

the Pent can then say--we will reduce the number of troops. I shake my head.

[Kipling]

15. Great. BTW, how likely is the referendum to succeed?

And how bad will it be if the constitution fails?

[Zorra]

16. But..but..Condoweasel just said that the Iraqi Resistance was losing steam

OMG! Do you think Condi may have lied?!!!?

[ninkasi]

19. Is this the same insurgency

that the Queen of Evil (a.k.a. Condi) says is "running out of steam"? Besides, this whole thing would be "nation building", something Monkey Boy said he was against when campaigning during the first selection.

He is a straight talker. Like he was going to get Osama, dead or alive, before he said he really wasn't concerned about him. Also, he has never changed the reason for invading Iraq...it began, and remains, WMD/Saddam Bad Man/Killed and tortured own people{until we could show up and do it for him)/WMD program development activities/freedom for Iraqis/spreading Democracy/Making the world safer.

[wtmusic]

17. Another Wes Clark prediction bites the dust

Stating that troop presence would be reduced by the end of this summer (I got hammered in the spring with comments to the effect of, "I think Wes knows a little more about military strategy than YOU").

No doubt. Doesn't make him any less wrong on this one.

[AndyTiedye]

18. While Recruiting Numbers Plumet Faster Than Bush**'s Approval Ratings

[papau]

20. Pentagon Expects to Send More Iraq Troops (but US media talks reduction?)

Pentagon Expects to Send More Iraq Troops

Monday August 8, 2005 8:01 PM


By ROBERT BURNS

AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Anticipating a new burst of insurgent violence, the Pentagon plans to expand the U.S. force in Iraq to improve security for a planned October referendum and a December election.

Although much public attention has been focused recently on the prospect of reducing U.S. forces next spring and summer, defense officials foresee the likelihood of first increasing troop levels.

Lawrence Di Rita, spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, noted Monday that troop levels were raised last January during Iraq's first elections, and then returned to the current level of about 138,000 several weeks later.

``It's perfectly plausible to assume we'll do the same thing for this election,'' he said, while stressing that no decisions had been made.
<snip> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5198003,00.html

CBS "FACE THE NATION" GUESTS: SENATOR JACK REED (D-RI); REP. DUNCAN HUNTER (R-CA);
Aug 7, 2005 http://www.fednews.com/transcript.htm?id=20050807t1767
US generals are talking about a possible US troop reduction

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-withdraw0805,1,4725822.story?coll=bal-home-headlines
Plans to trim US forces in Iraq reflect administration concerns
A senior military official, who requested anonymity, said "a whole lot of things" are motivating the troop reduction


http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20050806-20473100-bc-us-iraq-troops.xml
U.S. commander plans Iraq troop reduction

http://www.geo.tv/main_files/world.aspx?id=84234
US troop reduction by next year, says Iraqi security adviser

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/639880FF739219388625704E001B0069?OpenDocument
Talk of troop reduction in Iraq cheers, troubles experts

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/12268744.htm
More experts support troop reduction

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5499730.html
UK memo suggests mid-2006 for troop reduction

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-07/10/article02.shtml
US, UK Prepare Major Troop Reduction in Iraq: Memo

MEANWHILE ON THE LEFT WE KNEW IT WAS A LIE WHEN WE SAW IT IN THE US MEDIA
Operation Withdrawal Scam
http://www.counterpunch.org/solomon08012005.html
Operation Withdrawal Scam

[llmart]

21. Watch out all you mothers out there.......

here comes the draft. Keep your children safe and talk to them every day about why they shouldn't enlist in this craziness. If my children would've ever thought about enlisting I would've taken a huge board and smacked them upside the head!

(They're both too old to enlist now anyway, but I'm just saying.)

[w8liftinglady]

23. I wish it was too late for my kid

[llmart]

41. Well, of course I do too.......

but most of us here at DU are doing all we can to get your child and others home from this madness. Even though my children are older, I have much empathy for those mothers whose children are caught up in this mess. Though it did no good with the arrogant son of a bitch in the WH, I marched on Washington with thousands of people to try to bring some sense to these idiots in charge, to no avail.

We have to keep trying.

[countingbluecars]

22. Next thing you know

they'll be telling us it was a typo. They really meant Iran.

[Greylyn58]

24. Excuse me, but didn't Conjob just say

the insurgency was losing steam and wouldn't that mean we could lower the troop strength and possible start bringing them home.

So is she, oh I don't know...A LIAR!!! :evilgrin:

[gizmo1979]

25. Where are they going to come from?

The Boy Scouts?

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

29. Well, certainly not the Young College Republicans!!! (nt)

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

27. U.S. foresees autumn rise in troop levels in Iraq

By Will Dunham
2 hours, 57 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expects to raise its troop levels in Iraq this fall to bolster security for the planned October constitutional referendum and December elections for a new government, the Pentagon said on Monday.


Planning for a short-term bulge in troop levels comes as U.S. commanders, according to defense officials, also are working toward cutting the current force by 20,000 to 30,000 troops next spring and summer, contingent on progress in Iraq's political process and in developing Iraqi security forces.

The increase in troops also coincides with a spike in the number of Americans killed fighting the insurgency after a U.S.-led invasion toppled President Saddam Hussein in 2003. Since July 30, at least 41 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, including 18 on Aug. 3 alone.

A Pentagon tally released on Monday listed 1,829 U.S. military deaths since the start of the war in March 2003. Another 13,700 troops have been wounded in action.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050808/pl_nm/iraq_usa_troops_dc

[goddess40]

28. They have to pump up the numbers...

... so in spring they can bring them home and say they reduced the numbers of soldiers in Iraq like they said they would.

[paineinthearse]

30. This ties with John Kerry's "exit stragegy"

Towards the end of the campaign, I remember Kerry calling for up to 300,000 US ground troups. His plan was to seal the boarders and secure the country. Anyone have a link to that position or subsequent positions?

[Moderator]

31. kick

[Judi Lynn]

32. U.S. to increase military presence in Iraq

Aug. 8, 2005, 8:20PM

U.S. to increase military presence in Iraq
Referendum, election plans spur the added security, the Pentagon says
By WILL DUNHAM
Reuters News Service

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military plans to raise troop levels in Iraq this fall to bolster security for the planned October constitutional referendum and December elections for a new government, the Pentagon said Monday.

The increase in troops coincides with a spike in the number of Americans killed fighting the insurgency after a U.S.-led invasion toppled President Saddam Hussein in 2003. Since July 30, at least 41 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, including 18 just last Wednesday.

A Pentagon tally released Monday listed 1,829 U.S. military deaths since the start of the war in March 2003. Another 13,700 troops have been wounded in action.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said the Defense Department may delay the scheduled departure of an unspecified number of the 139,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq, achieving a short-term increase in the size of the force as more troops flow into the country as previously planned.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3301636
(Free registration required)

[acmavm]

33. If things are so swell and the insurgency is in its last throes, why do

we have to throw some more warm live American bodies at Iraq?

Sometimes the stuff that these guys say as opposed to what they do is absolutely mind boggling. And their 'constituency' is made up of a bunch of idiots.

[Heddi]

34. Where do these new troops come from?

The recruitment levels are DOWN. They're not getting new enlistees. They're already stretched thin as it is. Who can they send when EVERYONE is already over there?

Isn't it interesting that they're willing to sacrifice HOMELAND security in the middle of fucking HURRICANE SEASON (National Guard, anyone?) by sending all of our troops over there, and NONE here?

If I were a terrorist (and I may be depending on who you ask), this would be the PERFECT time to attack on our soil. We have no military here to save us, to fight for us, to protect us.

Rather, they're protecting OUR freedom by being in Iraq? How does that make sense? It's like having a gun that you keep at your brother's house 200 miles away and saying "Well, I'm safe at home because I have a gun" even though that gun is so far away as to never be useful to you....

Logic? Anyone????

[Judi Lynn]

36. Can you imagine the prospect of wildfires in the west,hurricanes east!

We'll have to ask the "Minutemen" to help. You can really count on THEM to pitch in and exert themselves.

[Olney Blue]

43. One of the troops being sent is my young nephew.

He joined the army last fall, and will be deployed to Kirkuk.


:banghead:

:cry:

[steely]

35. And yesterday they were going to reduce troops by 30K.

I'll try to post the LBN link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1683173

What a merry-go-round.

[Judi Lynn]

37. Unbelievable! They'll both INCREASE and DECREASE troop numbers.n/t

[symbolman]

38. 1984

Orwell was a little early in his vision..

[rman]

40. same trick as with employment numbers. nt

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

39. But, I thought the Chimp said they were drawing down?

:shrug:

[Moderator]

42. KICK

[leesa]

44. Same trick they pulled last time. Bump up the troop numbers and then

remove the ones you added and call it a reduction in time for the elections.

[Barkley]

46. If America needed to be 'liberated' would the Iraqis spend $300 billion

and 1800+ lives for us?