Word: trooped
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...influx of American troops into Baghdad has significantly lowered the level of violence in Ghazaliya, one of the Iraqi capital's most dangerous neighborhoods. But Ghazaliya highlights both the promise and the limitations of the troop surge. Residents are relieved to have the Americans around for now, but they have little faith in the Iraqi soldiers who will eventually replace them...
...longer tours are accompanied by a guaranteed year at home for soldiers between deployments, a move hailed by many as beneficial for troop morale and important for staving off burnout. But that year includes a rigorous schedule of month-long stints at the National Training Centers and live-fire field exercises that can last days at a time. Even if soldiers are back in the U.S. for a year, little more than half of that time is spent with family, and the next deployment always looms large. "We go home and immediately start preparing for the next deployment," says Polk...
...Pentagon announced that 35,000 more soldiers are likely to head to Iraq before year's end to maintain the troop surge. Meanwhile, those most responsible for launching the war continue to retreat from public life. Unlike soldiers, who can be barred from shedding their uniforms when their enlistment ends if they are bound for or in a war zone, civilians get no such "stop loss" orders...
...Defense chief Robert Gates represents the more Realpolitik team now taking over. He has warned Iraqi leaders that the U.S. military is not on indefinite loan to the Iraqi government and has lauded Democratic efforts to impose a timetable for troop withdrawal. Although Gates has won plaudits from Congress for his candor, he and President George W. Bush clearly need help crafting Iraq policy. That's why the White House is hunting for a "war czar." So far, half a dozen former military officers have declined the offer. Most retired officers under 62 can be ordered back to active duty...
What might this bipartisan bill look like? Both sides say it is all but certain that the Democrats will have to drop their deadlines for troop withdrawal. But there is likely to be significant Republican support for another idea that Bush opposes: imposing "benchmarks" on the Iraq government. Those benchmarks in the vetoed bill covered everything from disarming militias to sharing oil revenues across ethnic groups. "If they come to us with that," says a senior G.O.P. congressional aide, "we'll take it." Republicans are also likely to insist that Democrats jettison some of the extraneous spending in the bill...