Progress by the Numbers
"So here, as Gen. Petraeus brings his product to a microphone on Capitol Hill, is my best attempt at "progress" by the numbers:
Number of U.S. troops in Iraq before the president's "surge plan" or "new way forward" was launched in February 2007: 130,000
Number of U.S. troops in Iraq by September 2008, if Gen. Petraeus' reported "drawdown" plan is followed: Approximately 130,000, according to a "senior official" quoted by the Washington Post.
Number of American troops in Iraq when President Bush declared "major combat operations" to have "ended" on May 1, 2003: Approximately 130,000.
Number of American troops Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and other Pentagon civilian strategists predicted would be stationed in Iraq in August 2003, four months after Baghdad fell: 30,000-40,000, according to Washington Post reporter Tom Ricks in his bestselling book "Fiasco."
Number of U.S. troops in Iraq in July 2007: 162,000; in September 2007, 168,000; later in the fall of 2007, an expected 172,000 -- each an all-time high in its moment.
Number of British troops in southern Iraq, May 1, 2003: 45,000 in four provinces.
Number of British troops in southern Iraq, August 2007: 5,000, all gathered in a heavily fortified, regularly mortared base at Basra airport; number of British troops expected to be in Iraq by spring 2008, 3,000.
Number of nations that have withdrawn their troops from the Bush administration's "coalition of the willing" in Iraq: At least 17, according to Globalsecurity.org. Poland is expected to withdraw its drawn-down forces by year's end, and other countries have been drawing down their minimal forces as well. Among the remaining powers in the "coalition": Albania, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Estonia, Mongolia and Ukraine. "
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