Word: petraeus
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...airbase, in Anbar province, for meetings with U.S. military commanders, Iraqi leaders and some of the approximately 10,000 American troops stationed there. The trip kicks off a pivotal week for Bush, as Washington girds for a series of progress reports from U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus on Sept. 10 and 11 that may determine how many U.S. troops will stay in Iraq - and how long they will stay there...
...After speaking with with Petraeus and Crocker, Bush struck an optimistic note, saying that they had told him troop levels could come down in Iraq if stabilization continued at the current pace. But speaking to an ebullient crowd of service men and women Bush said, "When we begin to draw down troops in Iraq it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure...
...product substitution or double billing. The latest wrinkle is the apparent disappearance of 190,000 weapons--110,000 AK-47s and 80,000 pistols--that the U.S. bought and shipped to Iraq for use by the fledgling Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005. They vanished while General David Petraeus--now commanding all U.S. forces in Iraq--was in charge of rebuilding the Iraqi army. (He has not been implicated in any wrongdoing.) Officials say it's tough to track tens of thousands of weapons in the midst...
...expect any significant change in the overall war strategy when the White House releases Petraeus' report on the surge by Sept. 15. But with the war likely to continue more or less apace, there is even more pressure on the Pentagon to clean up its oversight. Not only is the military dispatching a high-powered investigative team to Iraq to look into past malfeasance, but it's also creating a senior Army panel to examine what systemic problems may be contributing to the plunder. No evidence has yet surfaced that the missing arms or ammo ended up in the hands...
...strategy has 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...