Word: anbar
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...multiple briefings on Iraq: a military update at 7 a.m., an intelligence report after that, political briefings through the day and finally a memo from his staff before he goes to bed. But during his recent surprise visit to al-Asad air base in the middle of Iraq's Anbar province, the President got an altogether different kind of report. In a concrete building sheltered from the 110°F (45°C) heat outside, Captain Lee Hemming, a Marine Cobra helicopter pilot, stood nervously opposite his Commander in Chief and a phalanx of fellow Marines and described his mission...
...their owners had to disable the wireless functions to prevent the President's plane from being tracked across the globe. Twelve hours later, Air Force One touched down, and Bush stepped out onto the tarmac of another well-secured U.S. air base for an eight-hour visit to Anbar province...
...positions. Even the President's comments about troop levels can be confounding: Bush made the trip in part to pressure a reluctant Congress to permit his 30,000-troop surge, announced in January, to continue a while longer. And yet it was Bush who, during his brief visit to Anbar, hinted openly that troop withdrawals might begin soon. He told reporters that General David Petraeus informed him that "if the security situation continues to improve the way it has, we may be able to achieve the same objectives with fewer troops...
...result, Crocker may have a better handle on the most important questions facing the U.S. effort in Iraq: Can the success with the Sunni tribes be extrapolated? Can a similar program work with the Shi'ites? Can Iraq be saved from the bottom up, with success in provinces like Anbar building toward a national accord...
...time, acknowledging that the natural rotation schedule will leave him with fewer troops, a reduction from 20 to 15 combat brigades over the next year. Bush may try to hold his Republicans in place and bollix antiwar Democrats by announcing a quick withdrawal of a brigade or two from Anbar and the north, but that will be politics, not policy. And policy-the question of what, if any, role the U.S. military should have in Iraq-is where the congressional questioning should focus. Will Petraeus propose moving U.S. troops into the restive Shi'ite south? What will he do about...