Word: drawdowns
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...House Democrats reject such arguments. Bush's announcement in September that he was beginning a drawdown was "a study in calculated public deception," Rep. David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who heads the House Appropriations Committee, said last week. The pullout of 30,000 troops by next summer will still leave about 140,000 troops in Iraq, the same size force that was there before the 30,000-strong "surge" began earlier this year. "He made clear in that speech that as far as he's concerned," Obey said, "we're going to be there for the next decade...
...only for brief visits with local officials these days, and much of the rest of southern Iraq has no American troops at all. Focused on saving Baghdad, U.S. forces keep up a regular presence with patrols and combat outposts chiefly around the southern reaches of the capital. Meanwhile, the drawdown of British forces in Basra - where the troops have relocated to the local airport outside the city - leaves yet another southern city, with a population of roughly 2 million, unattended by the U.S.-led coalition. That means virtually all of the vast, populous and oil-rich territory stretching from Karbala...
...widely known by everyone in Washington - and, no doubt, by the field commanders of the various enemy formations America confronts in Iraq, who also watch CNN - that the U.S. could simply not sustain the troop levels of the surge much beyond next spring without seriously damaging its military. The drawdown, in other words, is not necessarily a sign of progress; it was inevitable given the current size of America's military...
...Will troops start coming home? Petraeus is likely to recommend that troop levels remain constant at around 160,000 soldiers and Marines until April 2008, when a gradual redeployment will begin. The drawdown process will seem agonizingly slow, and that's because it will be - one 3,500-strong brigade and its supporting personnel a month. The timing is strategic and political. Pentagon personnel predict a massive drop in recruiting and retention in April if troops overseas aren't given long-promised breaks to go home. The political clock is ticking too. A partial springtime withdrawal would permit the White...
...worked beautifully. But there's a problem. One way Romney and Giuliani have evaded clear answers on the surge is by delaying the question until September, when General David Petraeus will report on its progress. Now September is here. Petraeus will probably oppose any immediate troop withdrawal, deferring any drawdown until next spring. Bush and most conservative pundits will demand that the surge continue into 2008. And Romney and Giuliani will find it harder to bob and weave. The press, which has given both men an easy ride on the issue, may start turning the screws. With luck, so will...