Word: drawdowns
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...strategists," enthuses Ike Skelton, the new Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. But one Marine general who knows the region says it actually makes some sense to put a naval officer in charge. If the U.S. begins redeploying forces outside of Iraq as a part of a drawdown it will increasingly have to use naval vessels, not large land bases, for stationing them...
...never fly. Realizing that with Gates moving to the Pentagon, the study group's report may have more impact than they had first thought, Democrats from all quarters began bombarding their allies on the panel with advice about how to stage an organized withdrawal and pressing for a precise drawdown timetable. Baker, who was in touch with the White House, resisted...
...trade is a central prop of the Taliban. But an eradication program would suck ISAF into a grinding war with locals who have no other way to earn a living. All that leaves NATO governments in an awkward bind. They have had to acquiesce in the Pentagon's proposed drawdown of some 4,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan to ease pressure on its forces in Iraq, but their own elastic now seems fully stretched. "The Afghan effort is one people still very much support," says a defense official from France, which has more than 1,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan...
...definitive reply to the calls for a drawdown came from General George Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq: Not just yet. A senior defense official tells TIME that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week quietly approved Casey's request to begin the deployment process for 15,000 troops, who should be in the Middle East by October to replace some of the 127,000 now in Iraq. "Things are still too uncertain in Iraq for the U.S. commanders to take a chance," says an officer. But there may be more good news soon. According to a senior officer, Casey...
...moment, Bush advisers say, a drawdown of U.S. forces isn't imminent. Bush plans to hold a two-day summit at Camp David this week in which Iraqi leaders will be beamed in by secure video lines for discussions about how to curb sectarian violence and kick-start reconstruction. Aides stressed this will not be a troop-withdrawal meeting--but the White House still faces pressure to show some kind of progress toward reducing U.S. involvement in Iraq. In Congress, both parties are scrambling to find ways to convince voters that they can bring troops home soon. Though Republicans...