So, troop levels in Iraq will be INCREASED???!!!

[bigtree]

July 30, 2006

Pentagon Extends Tour for 4,000 Troops, Increasing Number in Iraq

By EDWARD WONG

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 29 — The tours of 4,000 American soldiers who had been scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks have been extended for up to four months, signaling that there would almost certainly be no significant troop pullout before the year’s end, military officials and analysts said Saturday.

The extension is part of the new security plan that President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki announced last week in Washington. The plan entails sending thousands of American and Iraqi troops to the capital from elsewhere in Iraq to bolster the forces here. Since the new Iraqi government was installed in May, sectarian violence has spiraled out of control in many parts of Baghdad.

Of the 4,000 troops ordered to stay beyond their standard one-year tour, 3,500 are from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, currently based in the northern city of Mosul, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman. The other 500 come from other units.

The new security plan allows almost no room for significant troop withdrawals by the end of 2006, Anthony H. Cordesman, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said in an interview on Saturday.

If any troop pullout takes place in the coming months, “it would be so cosmetic that it would be meaningless,” he said. “It would be statistical gamesmanship.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/world/middleeast/30iraq.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

[Kagemusha]

1. Technically yeah, they'll be increased. It's not enough either.

Drop in the bucket levels.

[bigtree]

2. funny though, Iraqis don't think more US troops will do any better

Shiite Leader Criticizes Plan for Stronger U.S. Role in Iraq’s Security

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/29/world/middleeast/29iraq.html?ei=5087%0A&en=5f991b814375c6df&ex=1154318400&pagewanted=print

[Disturbed]

4. More troops to die and be maimed for

freedom and protecting America from terra.

[panader0]

3. I wish all of our troops could come home right now

This, however can be used by Dem polititians in November.

[proud patriot]

5. PNAC ...

all things going according to plan .. They will never come home .
We will always be at war .

I feel ill

We must resist
We must pushback

We must bring our soldiers home .

They did not sign up for PNAC

They signed up to defend .

Not PNAC

[Blue_In_AK]

6. This has been very big news here for a few days

as these Stryker Brigade soldiers are based out of Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks. Their families are beyond upset.

[bigtree]

8. I just heard an NPR report on that

Home Base Weighs In on Extended Iraq Stay for Brigade

by John McChesney

Listen to this story...

All Things Considered, July 29, 2006 · Soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Combat Brigade serve in a rural area near the town of Mosul and were supposed to start coming home from Iraq this week. Then President Bush announced that additional troops were needed in Baghdad, and the Pentagon decided that the 172nd would have to stay for several months more. Family members are surprised and frustrated at Ft. Wainwright, the 172nd's home base in Fairbanks, Alaska.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5591991

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Thanks, BigTree...

That was a good report. The Republican politicians here are trying to paint this as some kind of "honor" for the 172nd, that they've done such a good job that they can't be spared, but I think it's really a disgrace and and an affront to their families. Add this to the fact that we just recently had the largest call-up of Alaska national guardsmen since WW II, most of them from the Native villages out in the Bush whose families depend on them for subsistence, it all makes Alaska feel pretty hard hit recently. Not to mention that they're Eskimoes and Indians who have never had to deal with the kind of heat they're going to be exposed to over there. It's just a shame.

http://www.adn.com/news/military/iraq/story/7943298p-7836201c.html

<snip>

"The 3-297th is based in Juneau but a large portion of its 600 troops are coming from the Bush. About 150 of the men, Friday included, hail from Bethel-based Bravo Company in Western Alaska.

First Sgt. John Flynn, who oversees the Bethel unit, said 95 percent of his guys speak Yup'ik as their first language. About 30 of the men are from Bethel, a regional hub of about 6,000 people. The rest are from the region's remote villages: Kwigillingok, Kongiganak, Kwethluk, Kipnuk.

All across Western and Northwestern Alaska, people have thrown potlucks for the departing soldiers, while the men and their families try to come to grips with what a year away will mean. Who will help hunt for fish and seals? Who will help haul water, break trails or replace the stove oil in the heater? Who will be a father to the kids while dad is gone?"

<snip>

This creates an extremely difficult situation for the Native families. It's not like they can just run down to the local Safeway and load up on food. They depend on their men to hunt and fish and take care of them to a degree that most of us can't even comprehend.

I curse George Bush every day.

[bigtree]

11. thank you for your insight, Blue_In_AK

The climate issue is a big deal. The uniforms and gear alone are suffocating. Add that to almost no time for training, much less acclamation . . . This is a broke military. Their 'caring' goes only as far as what they actually provide for these soldiers. This is a nation being driven to decline.

[Oversea Visitor]

7. The chimp wont leave

When he drill for oil, even if dry he would not give up.
Of course the company goes bankrupt.
What do one expect out of idoit who would not or cannot emit he fail.

So now we see the same stupidity.
I guess US fuck unless the elected representative start to do something
After all US not chimp company.

[ktowntennesseedem]

9. I'm sure plenty of troops will still be coming home soon...

but I fear it will be like this:

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:cry: