HEADLINE: White House Plays Down Troop Withdrawal

[Bluebear]

WASHINGTON - The White House on Tuesday played down prospects of major troop withdrawals from Iraq in the near future. "We're not going to sort of look at our watches and say, oop, time to go," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060523/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq

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"That will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq." - Bush, March 2006

[demswin06]

1. Of course they are...

because the WH can dress it up all they want,but we are finally getting to them and forcing them to admit that Iraq was and still is a mistake. However,to appease their right wing fanatic base they will still cling to the old saw about "victory". They are pulling out and will have to do so without making it look like we are pulling out and "cutting and running". However to maximize this for the Dems we must continue to put on the pressure and force them to admit this whole thing was and is a mistake and the Dems can and must do a better job than Bush and the neo-con(jobs). We had no business being there in the first place and I reject the canard that this is old news and there is nothing that we can do about that.

[meti57b]

2. Troop withdrawal will depend on how far they are behind ....

as it gets closer to November elections.

[ladjf]

3. That's because they don't intend to ever remove them. Iraq is

a permanent U.S. occupied land.

[bigtree]

4. be kinda awkward to announce a pull-out

at the same time they're increasing the force in Iraq . . .

Fri May 19, 9:29 PM ET

WASHINGTON - U.S. military commanders are sending several hundred additional U.S. troops to
Iraq to bolster security as a new government takes shape in Baghdad, a defense official said Friday.

The extra troops are from a 1st Armored Division battalion that has been stationed in Kuwait as a reserve force.

Details of the movement, including timing, were not immediately available. The official who discussed it had direct knowledge of the decision but spoke on condition of anonymity because it had not been publicly announced.

The 1st Armored Division has had a brigade stationed in Kuwait for several months serving as a "call forward force," meaning it could be called upon to augment the troops in Iraq in certain situations. One of the brigade's battalions was sent to the Baghdad area in March to bolster security until a new national government was seated.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060520/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq_6


my 2 cents -- Bush's Wicked Iraq Lies (5-22-2006)