Competing Iraq Reports Due As Bush Commissions Alternatives

[rodeodance]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/06/23/competing-iraq-reports-du_n_53468.html

Competing Iraq Reports Due As Bush Commissions Alternatives

New York Times | DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER | June 23, 2007 07:38 PM


Last month, Congress set a deadline for the American commander in Iraq, declaring that by Sept. 15 he would have to assess progress there before billions more dollars are approved to finance the military effort to stabilize the country. The commander, Gen. David H. Petraeus, said in recent days that his report would be only a snapshot of trends, strongly suggesting he will be asking for more time.

But even before he composes the first sentences of the report, to be written with the new American ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan C. Crocker, the administration is commissioning other assessments that could dilute its conclusions about the impact of the current troop increase. The intent appears to be to give Mr. Bush, who publicly puts great emphasis on listening to his field commanders, a wide range of options.........

[rodeodance]

1. "they wanted to make sure the president was given dissenting viewpoints " HOGWASH!!

Several officials around Mr. Bush, none of whom would speak on the record about internal White House deliberations, said they wanted to make sure the president was given dissenting viewpoints as he made decisions that would determine whether troop withdrawals began in his last year in office.

“The issue now is when do we start withdrawing troops and at what pace,” one senior administration official said. “Petraeus wants as much time as he can get,” the official said, but added that “the president may not have the leeway” to give him that time.

The reality, officials said, is that starting around April the military will simply run out of troops to maintain the current effort. By then, officials said, Mr. Bush would either have to withdraw roughly one brigade a month, or extend the tours of troops now in Iraq and shorten their time back home before redeployment. The latter, said one White House official, “is not something the president wants to do” and would likely become a centerpiece of the 2008 presidential campaign.

[kurth]

2. Just throw everything that comes out of the Bush White House in the trash

Keep things simple.