Politics

Continued Heavy Commitment of U.S. Forces in Iraq

By Karina

This morning, President Bush announced his plan on force levels in Iraq. The AP reports:

No reduction of forces in Iraq this year

WASHINGTON ? President Bush will keep roughly the same number of U.S. forces in Iraq through the end of the year and pull about 8,000 troops home by February, a drawdown that?s both slower and smaller than long anticipated.

In a speech to be delivered Tuesday, Bush says more forces could withdraw in the first half of 2009. But for now, the situation isn?t changing significantly.

By the time the troops return home on the timeline Bush is proposing, someone else will be making the wartime decisions from the Oval Office.

…

One Marine battalion, numbering about 1,000 troops, will go home on schedule in November and not be replaced. An Army brigade of between 3,500 and 4,000 troops will leave in February. Accompanying that combat drawdown will be the withdrawal of about 3,400 support forces over next several months.

Speaker Pelosi on the President’s announcement:

After five and a half years of war, President Bush will leave office with nearly as many U.S. troops in Iraq as were there before the ’surge’ began in January 2007. The continued heavy commitment of U.S. forces is hampering our ability to fight the real war against terrorism in Afghanistan, is hurting our military readiness, and is extending the strain of long deployments on our military families.

The President is incapable of finding a way to make our troops the beneficiaries of whatever improvements there have been in security in Iraq.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton:

The President?s plan to reduce force levels in Iraq may seem to signal movement in the right direction, but it really defers troop reductions until the next administration. More significant troop reductions in Iraq are needed so that we can start to rebuild U.S. military readiness and provide the additional forces needed to finish the fight in Afghanistan.

Our troops in Iraq are doing a magnificent job, making it possible for the Iraqi people to build the foundations for their new government. But Iraq cannot continue to overshadow other critical U.S. security needs.

The al Qaeda terrorists who attacked the United States on 9/11 found safe haven in Afghanistan, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has testified that another potential attack on our nation would most likely originate from this volatile region. The effort in Afghanistan must move to the forefront and once again become our top priority.

Full post as published by The Gavel on September 09, 2008 (boomark / email).