Joint Chiefs chairman: Security gains holding

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 9 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Iraq appears on track to establishing sustainable security — a key step toward withdrawing U.S. troops — the top U.S. military officer said Monday after visiting the newly quiet Sadr City section of the capital.

He repeatedly stressed, however, that the improvements are fragile and could still be reversed.

"From all I see, the security conditions are holding, the level of violence is down; we‘re down to a level that we haven‘t seen in over four years," Mullen said on his fourth visit to Iraq since becoming Joint Chiefs chairman last October. "That, then, ties into decisions to be made later this year about the level of forces. So I hope we can continue the drawdown" after a late-summer pause, he added.

Pressed to say how much longer it might take to reach a conclusion about the permanence of the security gains, Mullen declined to be pinned down.

Mullen said he planned to meet later this week with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, as well as Ryan Crocker, the top U.S. diplomat. Petraeus told Congress in May that he might be able to recommend further troop reductions this fall, after he makes a fresh assessment in late summer.



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[Tempest]

1. For every gain made in Iraq

Afghanistan loses that much ground.

[leveymg]

2. It's "Vietnamization" all over again

Nixon's '72 reelection strategy hinged on it.

Let's call it what it is: "Iraqization", another failed attempt to salvage another foreign policy disaster and the reputations of those who got us into it. There's nothing patriotic about allowing the bleeding to continue.