General David Petraeus has asked to stop troop withdrawals. Although this is bad, it wasn't necessarily unexpected. However, this does mean that we should not expect major troop pullouts until after the November Election.
The general proposed "we undertake a 45-day period of consolidation and evaluation. At the end of that period, we will commence a process of assessment to examine the conditions on the ground and, over time, determine when we can make recommendations for further reductions." Some say that this may be a plan which never ends. The general doesn't even promise that troop withdrawal will even begin after this "45-day period" only that it will once again be evaluated.
This may cause the war in Iraq to become an important issue in the presidential debates leading up to the November election.
Here is the US News article on this issue, which also has links to other newspapers.
5 comments:
I'm not at all surprised that a General would want to stop troop reductions because that essentially says that the US is conceding the war which reflects badly on the Generals who are in charge of the military. Military leaders should realize that peace is more important than their egos and American military prowess.
I agree with Eddie. I don't think Petraeus is going to pull out more soldiers while Bush is still president. Neither wants to look bad. So I guess it all depends who our next president is. If it's McCain, we're in for more. But even if Obama or Clinton wins, it's still probably going to take a while to get all the troops out. I think the US is too far in this war to just say "let's go home."
wouldn't pulling out troops mean "mission accomplished" and that we won? troop reductions mean we succeeded. and this "may become an important issue in the presidential debates"? no, it already is/will be. right behind the economy.
Benji, was pulling troops out of the Vietnam War considered "mission accomplished"? But yea, Iraq is already an important issue in the debates. Our election simulation could prove that.
I had not meant that the issue was not already important or a big part of how the candidates will be voted on. I only thought that this recent address by Petraeus will cause the candidates to focus on this issue more than some of the other ones.
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