It looks to me like things are much worse than what the White House & Pentagon have been saying. Our people are stuck between a very sharp rock & a hard place presently, and there is going to be a lot more death & destruction before it ever (if ever) gets better.
Look at this headline>
Pentagon delays U.S. troops' trip home No word yet on which units will stay longer in Iraq
By Tom Squitieri
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- A decision by the Pentagon to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq is a reversal of its plan to steadily reduce the U.S. force level there.
Since the war began a year ago, senior military leaders have given frequent assurances to troops and their families that Iraq duty would be no longer than a year.
Now, those assurances have met the reality of Iraq, where military leaders are planning for the possibility that anti-U.S. violence will spread. U.S. troops are stretched thin around the world, and the Pentagon has few options to increase the force in Iraq if necessary.
On Monday, a senior official with U.S. Central Command said that the return home of about 24,000 U.S. troops who were scheduled to leave in the next few weeks would be delayed as their replacements arrive. Central Command's responsibility includes the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
With the 24,000 remaining and others who have arrived as intended replacements, there are 134,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
The senior official spoke to reporters at the Pentagon by phone from Central Command in Tampa. He gave the briefing on the condition that he not be identified.
Defense officials did not say how much beyond a year some troops would stay. They discussed the deployment in the context of reducing the current violence in Iraq in the weeks leading up to June 30, when Iraqis will regain their sovereignty from the United States. The United States will maintain a military presence after Iraq resumes self-rule.
At an emergency meeting Monday, Gen. John Abizaid, head of Central Command, and other senior generals ordered a list of options on troop levels after an escalation of violence over the weekend.
Besides the extended deployment, they are studying which U.S. troops at bases around the world could be readied for a quick move to Iraq in an emergency, the senior defense official said. |
