US 'can send troops to Iraq in a minute'

[QuietStorm]

US 'can send troops to Iraq in a minute' Baghdad: The United States has said it is ready to send more troops to Iraq "in a minute" if its top commander in the region asks for them, as Turkey and Iran told the occupying forces in Iraq they must restore order in their volatile neighbour.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he was ready to send more troops to Iraq but the chief of Central Command, General John Abizaid, has not asked for them.

Rumsfeld's comments came amid growing criticism that the US force there is not large enough to bring the country under control and end a surge of attacks and bombings by anti-US forces.

"I can tell you that if General Abizaid recommended it, it would happen in a minute. But he has not recommended it," Rumsfel told reporters after a "town hall" meeting with troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

For her part, US national security advisor Condoleezza Rice preached patience to an increasingly worried US public over the situation in Iraq.

"We must remain patient," she said in a speech in San Antonio, Texas. "When Americans begin a noble cause, we finish it. We are 117 days from the end of major combat operations in Iraq. That is not very long."

http://sify.com/news/international/fullstory.php?id=13234067

117 days from the end of major combat operations in Iraq????

[lindashaw]

1. hmmm...who knows? I have a question...

These troops that could be sent to Iraq in a minute: Will they have weapons, or will they, too, have to use AK-47s?

[htuttle]

2. Weapons?

From what I've been hearing, I'd be surprised if they got boots...

[Mari333]

3. More weekend Guard Units???

over MY dead body.

www.bringthemhomenow.com

[lindashaw]

4. QuietStorm, I think she meant...

we are 117 days from May 1 when Bush said that it was over.

[sidpleasant]

6. Re: More weekend Guard Units??

Yes. My brother - in - law is in the National Guard, part of a field hospital unit. He was told unofficially 2 weeks ago that they're going to Baghdad December 1. The deployment was described as lasting "9 months to 2 years".

[QuietStorm]

14. FUCK what happen to McCain's suggestion

to take it to the American public. Did I miss a press conferenc on this. Or a state of the union. When are they going to do their little dog and pony show for the FREEPERS I keep running into and give America an assessment regarding this ESCALATION?

WHERE THE FUCK IS DANIEL ELSBERG?

[newyawker99]

22. Hi sidpleasant!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[aquart]

10. Oh. He was wrong as usual.

[gratuitous]

5. Rumsfeld said this yesterday, too

What neither Rice nor Rumsfeld saw fit to mention was whether Gen. Abizaid was authorized to request more troops, or if he had been ordered not to ask for more troops under any circumstances.

Okay, I don't have an ironclad basis for that conjecture, but I'll bet a shiny nickel that no one in the media brothel sees fit to ask the question, or if it's asked whether a straight answer will be given.

[Spazito]

7. Hmmmm, one minute they are begging for more countries to send troops...

the next, never mind, we have plenty to spare, geez, if they spin any faster they will generate a whole new power source!

[htuttle]

9. Indeed. Rumsfeld generates a remarkable amount of...

..Biomass.

[aquart]

8. What happens in 117 days?

Why that number?

[neverforget]

11. A "blow-dried Napoleon" telling the 'merican puple that everything

is ok. :eyes: Nothing to see here. Move along.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. NO MORE TROOPS

Bring them home.

This is ridiculous. Get out of the way, let the UN, NATO or some international coalition send peacekeepers. Iraq does not need more troops. That will only make things worse.

Besides, what happens if we do have another terrorist attack here? Who will be left to protect America once we've used up all of our resources trying to destroy Iraq?

[demdave]

23. I thought the UN troops were busy in Liberia.or was that Nigeria?

Doesn't matter, wherever the U.N sends it's troops they take care of the situation quickly. Just look at Somalia, or was it Rwanda. Doesn't matter, both are at peace now. /sarcasm/

[damnraddem]

13. Sending troops in a minute isn't the problem.

Bringing them home in a decade, or ever, is.

And, Condi, don't worry. You said "When Americans begin a noble cause, we finish it." But since this doesn't apply to the criminal invasion of Iraq, there is no reason to worry about finishing anything other than the troop pullouts. Is 117 days since 'major combat operations' a long time? Well, it has been long enough for as many ACKNOWLEDGED troop deaths as occurred in 'major combat operations.' The record would, indeed, appear to suggest that the period of 117 days has been approximately 160 days too long.

[QuietStorm]

15. Which song is that on the Juke Box?

When Johnny comes home in a bodybag? If anyone is taking requests I would much perfer "I love to love ya, Baby!"

[saskatoon]

20. And so it came to pass

Blessed Are The Peace Makers
Not the yellow brick road
not the road that leads to an Emerald City
that’s not the road we’re about to take
not lions and tigers and bears to fear
much more than that my friends at stake

The world stands breathless, waits in dread
while planes are crouched across the land
waiting to drop their fearsome loads
on any who dare resist our stand

While the hawks beat the drums loud and long
and the people cheer and the band plays on

Hawks strangle the cries of the dove of peace
the eagle its arrows clenched tight in one claw
has dropped with a thud the olive branch
god of War holds sway---now the rule of law

The fresh faced boys by the thousand fold
shipped across the seas to a distant stand
they will fight and die in Baghdad streets
along side the children of that land

While the hawks beat the drums loud and long
and the people cheer and the band plays on

While the bombers stream their lethal load
the mother’s will weep and the blood will flow
the thunder of war fill the acrid air
the sand stained red by friend and foe


And soon the planes make their return flight
bringing back a load from that distant place
and the boy that marched into the hold
carried out with a flag on his young dead face

Now the hawks are silent, the drums are stilled
while newly dug graves receive the boys killed

While the puzzled people now shake their heads
and wonder how and where it all went wrong
they didn’t think it was going to end like this
when voices brayed “WAR!” and the band played on.


Copyright 2002 by G. M. Stevenson
[e-mail]

[Walt Starr]

16. In one minute, huh?

Scotty, beam me over.

[realFedUp]

18. one of those NY minutes....

that take about two years...

[sangh0]

21. BUT HOW LONG TO GET THEM OUT!!!!!!!

.

[Rose Siding]

17. Condi is off message! gasp

Just a few days ago, Bush put us all in the way back machine and erased when he said that MAJOR combat ops were over. He DID NOT say that (the lyin' weasel) They even removed the word "major" from the WH web site, just so we'd all remember better that he never said that. (but he really did, in the real world- just not in republiworld)

[symbolman]

19. Here's what they said

http://www.takebackthemedia.com/whitehouselies.html

Notice that they are now saying MAJOR combat in twos and threes now to drill it in..