Word: troop
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...Supported troop withdrawal from Vietnam...
...Thus far, the Pentagon has authorized only a modest withdrawal, planning to bring home 8,000 troops by February, leaving behind some 138,000. Further troop withdrawals will be influenced by events on the ground, and also by the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections. Iraqi officials want all U.S. troops out by 2011. Republican presidential candidate John McCain has refused to set a timetable, while his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, has pledged to withdraw all U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office...
...with positive language and sugarcoat it to the American public, he was losing the war. But somehow he had no set deadlines, demanded no hurry." Eventually, Bush ceded the responsibility for a new strategy to National Security Adviser Steve Hadley, who pushed ahead with the idea of a troop surge despite a desire by almost everyone inside and outside the Administration to start withdrawing troops. It was policy through brute force--but it succeeded in reducing the violence...
...General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, wanted to maintain the current force level through next June, but agreed to the modest troop reduction under pressure from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They are eager to divert additional troops to Afghanistan, which can only happen if troops are pulled out of Iraq. Petraeus will soon inherit responsibility for overseeing both Afghanistan and Iraq when he becomes head of U.S. Central Command...
...Pentagon officials say there's no conflict between the slow withdrawal of U.S. troops and Baghdad's desire to buy warplanes. "The troop numbers are designed to stabilize Iraq in the short term," one said. "The F-16s - if they get them - are for the long term...