Word: troop
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...military commanders, who have long argued that troop reductions must depend on conditions on the ground, warn against any abrupt cutbacks. "A precipitous pullout would be destabilizing," says Army Lieut. General John Vines, the top ground commander in Iraq. And the Pentagon expects a spike in violence in the run-up to the Dec. 15 election for a new parliament. But the debate over a withdrawal, spurred in part by Democratic Representative John Murtha's call two weeks ago for an accelerated departure, is now out in the open. Here are some of the key questions going forward...
...serious is the troop-reduction plan...
...leisurely visits to religious sites, including a gold-leafed Buddhist temple in Japan and an ancient Korean pagoda. White House officials tell TIME that the National Security Council included those stops so Bush could show an appreciation for Asian culture and give the U.S. a calling card besides troop requests and military bases...
Last Tuesday Congress took the first, difficult step towards evaluating the need for U.S. troops in Iraq. In a 79-19 bipartisan vote, the Senate passed a broad defense policy bill which included language saying that 2006 “should be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty.” The bill also calls for the Bush administration to furnish Congress with progress reports on the need for U.S. troops every three months. Though likely to be reshaped for passage in the House, the Senate version of the bill is the first sign that Congress...
...proceeds honestly and peacefully, the Bush Administration can claim Iraq has taken a giant step toward political self-sufficiency-a precondition, White House officials have said, for battling the increasingly lethal insurrection. The success of elections will have a direct effect on last week's debate: How many U.S. troops should be in Iraq and for how long? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Fox News Sunday that after the elections, the U.S. hopes to drop troop levels from 160,000 to about 138,000, with a target of 100,000 by the end of 2006. Elsewhere, NBC News' Tim Russert...