General Weighs 2nd Troop Shift to Calm Baghdad

[cal04]

The top American military commander in Iraq said Tuesday that it was possible he might need to call for an increase in American troop levels in Baghdad to reinvigorate a plan to recapture the capital’s streets from insurgents and death squads.

In a news conference held after a week of largely bad news from Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad sought to reassure an increasingly restive American public that the war was still winnable.

Mr. Khalilzad laid out a timetable for political measures he said the Iraqi government had agreed to take that the Americans see as crucial to tamping down sectarian violence, and General Casey predicted that Iraqi troops would be able to take over the main burden of the war in 12 to 18 months, allowing American troops to move to a support role. (Military analysis, page A8.)

(snip)
He said his options could include deploying more Iraqi soldiers, bringing in more American troops to Baghdad from the 141,000 already in Iraq, or getting reinforcements from American troops deployed outside the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/world/middleeast/25iraq.html

[babylonsister]

1. Casey is the waterboy for Rumsfailed. Too late, you toady.

Goddamn him!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2578885