Word: trooped
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...press conference Wednesday morning, President George Bush made an interesting verbal pivot, which was not lost on senior military officers listening in the Pentagon. Talking about troop levels in Iraq, Bush did not use his usual line that the commanders on the ground would get whatever they need. Instead, he said he would "listen" to the commanders...
...White House has signaled its interest in plans that could add as many as 30,000 more troops to the country. About 17,000 troops are currently in Baghdad trying to rein in sectarian violence that seems to widen every day, despite a major push by U.S. forces starting in June to secure the capital. The opponents of a troop surge say the failure of this campaign to bring order to Baghdad shows that greater numbers of U.S. forces are unlikely to have an effect on the situation. To be sure, even a doubling of U.S. forces in Baghdad...
...soft power. As commander of the 1st Cavalry, he had ordered "public works" like new sewage systems and improved water supplies to deal with ingrained grievances. That did nothing to stem the Mahdi Army's power. Now, though it can be seen as a place where increased U.S. troop presence can make a difference, the tense standoff between U.S forces and the Mahdi Army could easily erupt into open fighting and turn Baghdad into an urban battleground. Still, as a long as the uneasy prevailing peace remains, American troops exercise a broad measure of authority on the streets of Baghdad...
...Odierno, the new ground commander in Iraq, is thought to favor a U.S. troop surge. He comes to the job with a reputation as an aggressive commander, even sounding a bit like Bush in advocating a stay-the-course approach when he addressed a panel of lawmakers and military experts in Washington last March. Odierno spoke in hypothetical terms about the need to integrate seamlessly reserve units and active-duty forces to sustain an emergency military surge, should one ever be needed...
...what of Reid's support for a troop surge? Well, first, Democrats are split on what to do next, and there has always been a good chunk of the Senate caucus that might well back more, not fewer, troops. Though Democrats pushed the Baker-Hamilton commission behind the scenes (to no avail) to set firm timetables for U.S. withdrawal, Reid's comments are a reminder that they are not yet ready to take such a hard line in public. The public may think Iraq is a mistake and a fiasco; but it may not be ready to bug out. Finally...