Iraq War Report Implies Longer US Surge (AP)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Iraq War Report Implies Longer US Surge

By ROBERT BURNS
The Associated Press
Friday, July 13, 2007; 3:31 AM

WASHINGTON -- While many in Congress are pushing President
Bush to alter course in Iraq by September if not sooner, his
new status report on the war strongly implies that the
administration believes its military strategy will take many more
months to meet its goals.

The report cited no specific timeframe, but its language suggests
what some U.S. commanders have hinted at recently: The troop
reinforcements that Bush ordered in January may need to remain
until spring 2008.

That's a military calculation at odds with an emerging political
consensus in Washington on bringing the troops home soon.

-snip-

The president apparently has made the calculation that he can
ward off political pressure to change course before the next
required progress report, set for mid-September. That's when
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, plans to
lay out his assessment of whether the counterinsurgency
strategy he launched in February is working and recommends
to Bush whether to stick with it into the coming year.

By extending troop deployments in Iraq from 12 months to
15 months, the Army has made it possible for Bush to maintain
the troop buildup until about April 2008. But if he wanted to
go beyond that it would require some even more painful moves
by the Army, at the risk of reaching a breaking point.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071300135.html

[izzie]

1. It will be we are winning until Bush is out. Or so I think

Bush's war will stay this way until we get some one else in place and then I am not sure any one knows just what to do. My sister said to me when Bush got in. 'Mark my word, this man will leave a mess every place for others to clean up. How right she was.