Word: troop
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...While the details of their trip have been kept secret (indeed, the Obama campaign has refused to even publicly confirm that he is going), Obama's choice of traveling companions is telling. Both Hagel and Reed have been vocal advocates for troop withdrawal, though they split over the initial vote to authorize President Bush to use military force to oust Saddam Hussein, with Reed opposing the invasion and Hagel supporting it. Both carry enormous influence on military issues on Capitol Hill and have strong ties to the Pentagon. Obama's invitation of Hagel is also meant to send a signal...
...trip comes at a time when Obama's Iraq stance is being criticized from both ends of the political spectrum. Republicans say the fact-finding trip is merely for show, given Obama's commitment to troop withdrawal, which he repeated in a speech July 15. McCain noted that Obama gave the speech about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan "before he has even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time. In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best...
...Taliban: a mass assault on a jail freed hundreds of prisoners, and a suicide bombing outside the Indian embassy on July 7 killed 40 and injured over 100. Many of these assaults are planned and supported from safe havens across the border in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Western troop casualties are climbing; the last two months exceeded the monthly death toll in Iraq. On July 13, nine U.S. soldiers were killed when Taliban fighters swarmed over their base in the eastern province of Kunar - the worst attack in three years...
...Maliki made the announcement amid widespread opposition among the Iraqi government to U.S. demands put forward during ongoing negotiations over the more formal Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The SOFA would create a legal framework for a long-term U.S. troop presence in the country after the U.N. mandate expires in December. The sudden mention of a timetable - a concept aggressively supported by al-Maliki's rivals in the Sadrist movement - may have come as a shock to Washington...
...results of that hot pursuit will help determine whether al-Maliki's military and police forces are capable of reinforcing the central government's tenuous hold on the oil-rich regions south of Baghdad - even as the Prime Minister discusses the possibility of a timetable for American troop withdrawal as part of a new security agreement with the U.S. More immediately (and concretely), the efficacy of Iraqi government forces is critical to the outcome of provincial elections in October...