Reply #1: Troop surge needs time, leaders say [View All]

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Fri, Jul. 27, 2007
Associated Press

BAGHDAD — The top U.S. general and diplomat in Iraq warned Thursday against cutting short the American troop buildup and suggested they would urge Congress in September to give President Bush’s strategy more time.

Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus, in separate interviews, avoided setting out a time frame for the counterinsurgency strategy. But Petraeus indicated that he would like to see a substantial U.S. combat force remain well into 2008 and perhaps beyond.

Meanwhile Thursday, a car bomb exploded near a market in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, killing at least 25 people and wounding 74, police said. The U.S. military said five American troops had died in fighting this week near the capital.


http://www.thestate.com/nation/story/129858.html