Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Bush has an exit strategy after all, and it's Murtha's

raveneye · 11-24-2005, 10:31 AM

Here's a question: am I a cynic for thinking that the "exit strategy" is just: wait until enough people complain, and then start pulling out?

This has got to be the mother of all flip flops.

Quote:

HEADLINE: U.S. plans to begin troop withdrawal: Bulk of troops expected home in time for November 2006 elections

BYLINE: Sheldon Alberts, CanWest News Service

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:

WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials are eyeing plans to withdraw more than 60,000 troops from Iraq by the end of 2006 amid growing pressure from Americans for an end to the war and rising anxiety among Republican lawmakers seeking re-election.

After spending weeks accusing war critics of advocating a "cut and run" policy in Iraq, senior Bush administration officials are setting the stage publicly for a sharp pullout of U.S. forces beginning early next year.

"I do not think that American forces need to be there in the numbers that they are now for very much longer because Iraqis are stepping up," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Fox News Channel.

In separate remarks to CNN, Rice rejected an "arbitrary timetable" for bringing troops home, but said "the number of coalition forces is clearly going to come down because Iraqis are making it possible to do those functions themselves."

Rice's comments signal an ab

rupt shift in tone by the Bush administration, which was upbraided by the U.S. Senate last week for not moving fast enough on an exit strategy for Iraq.

In a bipartisan measure, senators voted to require quarterly updates from the Bush administration on the war's progress. The Senate also pressed for Iraqis to assume the lead military role in the country in 2006, "thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of the United States from Iraq."

With political tensions over the war and the strain of U.S. combat forces growing, senior U.S. military officials quietly leaked details of preliminary troop withdrawal plans over the past week.

Gen. George Casey, the top American military commander in Iraq, has submitted a plan to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that would see the number of U.S. forces drop by one-third, from the current 155,000 to between 90,000 and 100,000 by late 2006. One senior officer has described the plan as "moderately optimistic."

The plan hinges on the success of elections for a permanent Iraqi parliament on Dec. 15 and continuing improvement in the training and combat readiness of Iraqi security forces.

In a report Wednesday quoting senior Pentagon officials, the Washington Post said the initial phase of troop redeployment would see the withdrawal of three combat brigades, down from 18, early next year. The proposal would see one of those brigades redeployed to neighbouring Kuwait, where it could be easily sent back to Iraq if the situation deteriorates.

The U.S. has operated with a baseline of 138,000 troops for much of 2005, but the number of soldiers was increased to 155,000 to provide added security for the October referendum on a new constitution and the upcoming parliamentary vote.

There is growing speculation in Washington that President George W. Bush could announce the first withdrawals, of perhaps a handful of army battalions, each of about 2,000 soldiers, in his state of the union address in late January.

The plan for a troop withdrawal, which has to be approved by Rumsfeld, carries significant risk for both U.S. forces and Iraq's stability. Although Casey and other U.S. generals say Iraq's security forces are rapidly increasing their capabilities, only one of 96 battalions has been deemed ready to operate without help from American or other coalition forces.

There is also growing pressure from Iraqi politicians for a U.S. pullout. Iraqi Shiites, Sunni and Kurdish politicians ended a reconciliation summit this week by calling for the "withdrawal of foreign troops on a specified timetable."

Domestic politics in the U.S. may also play a significant role in dictating the pace of any American military withdrawal from Iraq. All members of the House of Representatives, and one-third of U.S. senators, will be up for re-election in November 2006.

GRAPHIC:
Colour Photo: Reuters; Antiwar protester Juan Torres holds a photo of his son during a demonstration near U.S. President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, on Wednesday.

LOAD-DATE: November 24, 2005