General: Less Combat in New Iraq Mission

[Barrett808]

General: Less Combat in New Iraq Mission
By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military will consult Iraq's interim leaders before engaging in future offensives and is shifting its priorities from fighting guerrillas to training Iraqi troops and protecting Iraq's fragile new government, the U.S. general who heads military operations said Thursday.

"Combat becomes a lower priority than it has been for much of the insurgent fight to date," said Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, who took command of the new Multinational Corps Iraq headquarters last month.

Metz said American forces "certainly have the right" under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Tuesday "to conduct operations as we would like to."

But decisions on U.S. operations will be made in concert with Iraq's incoming leaders, through liaisons sprinkled through coalition and Iraqi military units, Metz added.

One of the first tasks Metz identified was to declare which militias and rebel forces are "the enemy."

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040610/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_less_combat&cid=540&ncid=1480

[saigon68]

1. Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz = crack smoker

Where did this imbecile come from

AND WHO THE FUCK does he think will believe this Shit.

[Barrett808]

2. Hard to believe: U.S. force in Iraq to grow as Marine deployment pushed up

U.S. force in Iraq to grow as Marine deployment pushed up
Wed Jun 9, 6:17 AM ET
By Tom Squitieri and Dave Moniz, USA TODAY

The Pentagon (news - web sites) will increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites) to around 145,000 this summer, from the current 140,000, in recognition of the continued difficulty coalition forces are having in providing security leading up to the hand-over of political power to Iraqis on June 30.

The new troops will come from the Marine Corps, which will move up a deployment originally planned for this fall and send 5,000 Marines to Iraq by August. The first troops in that contingent - 2,200 Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit - have already left their home base in San Diego for Iraq. The remainder will come from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in North Carolina.

Overall, U.S. force levels in Iraq could rise even higher than 145,000 as Marines already in Iraq have their tours extended to overlap with incoming replacements, said Lt. Gen. Robert Magnus, deputy commandant for programs and resources. How long the Marines now due to rotate home will be forced to stay "depends on how well the Iraqi forces come along and whether there are more troops, or less troops, from foreign countries," Magnus told reporters Tuesday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the increase in the troop level in Iraq is routine. "As you bring troops in to replace troops that are there, you will have a spike in the total numbers as you do that transition," he said. But Whitman could not say when the number will drop back to the current level or lower.

(more)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/usforceiniraqtogrowasmarinedeploymentpushedup

[KC21304]

3. Is this another announcement that major combat is over ?

Do we need another ceremony ?

[Disturbed]

4. The Goal: Less American Troop Casualties

BushCo needs to have this desperately. The US election is now hinging on Iraq. It seems that the Iraqis will have more influence on the US elections than any other group of people. The more peaceful Iraq is the better for BushCo chances of winning the US election.