Troops doubt pullout is possible by '08

[maddezmom]

RAMADI, Iraq · American troops in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq are skeptical they'll be leaving any time soon, despite a new U.S. defense chief and a bipartisan commission urging a new war strategy.

The soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment welcomed the plans for change, but questioned the high-level U.S. panel's recommendation Wednesday that most combat troops leave Iraq by early 2008.

"There's no way we're leaving in two years no matter what any recommendation says," said Spc. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster, Calif. He thought 2012 was more realistic.

Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic.

more;http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-atroops07dec07,0,3569169.story?coll=sfla-news-nationworld



11 U.S. troops killed in Iraq


BAGHDAD, Iraq - The toll in one of the U.S. military's deadliest days in Iraq rose to 11 when the military said Thursday that another soldier had died in fighting west of Baghdad.

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At least seven Iraqis — six policemen and a 7-year-old girl — were killed in a series of bombings and shootings.

The U.S. soldier was shot Wednesday while manning a machine gun nest on the roof of an outpost in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the capital of the volatile Anbar province, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.

The death came on the same day that 10 other U.S. troops were killed in four separate incidents in Iraq, and a blue-ribbon panel in Washington recommended gradually shifting U.S. forces from a combat to a training role.
more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[marmar]

1. The blood continues to flow...and my read on the ISG report is that they're not leaving soon....

In other words, we're prepped to serve up many more troops and many, many, many more Iraqis as fodder in this hell which we've unleased........
This isn't going to end until the public demands it. The election obviously wasn't enough. And a war protest once a year isn't going to do the trick - people need to start doing it daily, and engaging in some civil disobedience - start starving the beast. It's time to be "interveners in history," as Howard Zinn would say.
I'm so f..king sick of this. :argh:

[maddezmom]

2. I agree with you and another article: Report not likely to affect deployment

Estes Thompson, The Associated Press
RALEIGH - A high-level report released Wednesday that concluded President Bush's policies in Iraq have largely failed does not appear likely to affect the scheduled deployment early next year of thousands of Marines from Camp Lejeune.

About half of the base's 2nd Marine Division is scheduled to be on station in Iraq by early 2007, when Maj. Gen. Walter Gaskin and his staff take over command of American forces in western Iraq from troops based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. The report issued Wednesday by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded most American combat forces should leave Iraq by early 2008.

Gaskin commands the Camp Lejeune-based 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force-Forward. In all, he will lead about 28,000 troops when he takes over the region that includes the city of Fallujah. Another 10,000 Iraqi soldiers will be assigned to work with the Americans.

more:http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/518535.html

[trogdor]

3. George can't fix it.

He has two options. (1) Get the hell out, either gradually or all at once, and leave behind a clusterfuck, or (2) stick around and try to keep the place together somehow for the next President to deal with. I don't think (1) is really an option, and no matter what epiphany George has in his final two years in office, no one will trust him and no one will listen to him. He is about as ineffectual a diplomat as he is a leader. Therefore, it will be the next President who will be in the best position to bring our involvement in Iraq to some reasonable conclusion - one that sucks the least.

[Porcupine]

4. It's leave or be ground up slowly. Choose. Victory not an option.

I hate the "we can't leave anytime soon because....." meme. It is frankly a lie. If we absolutely had to we could get every US military personell out of Iraq in three weeks. Get in the trucks and tanks that run and blow up what you leave behind.

Staying will result in more death and destructin to no end. We're not even getting significant amounts of oil out of Iraq and the Iraqi people are certainly getting no benefit from oil revenues.

Just leave.

[jwirr]

5. I think you probably hit the nail on the head. The troops still have

hopes that something will happen so they can win this mess. I wonder if the Veitnam soldiers were as divided on leaving?