Bush Says Troop Cutbacks Might Stop

Source: ap



Jan 12, 2:43 PM EST

Bush Says Troop Cutbacks Might Stop

By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent


MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) -- President Bush said Saturday he is open to the possibility of slowing or stopping plans to bring home more U.S. troops from Iraq, defying domestic demands to speed the withdrawals. Updated on war developments, Bush said the U.S. presence in Iraq will outlast his presidency.

Bush said any decision about troop levels "needs to be based upon success," but that there was no discussion about specific numbers when he was briefed by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad.

The president was cheered by news that Iraq's parliament had approved legislation reinstating thousands of former supporters of Saddam Hussein's dissolved Baath party to government jobs. Bush had prodded Iraqi leaders for more than a year to enact the law.

"It's an important step toward reconciliation," Bush said as he opened talks with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. "It's an important sign that the leaders of that country understand that they must work together to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people.".........




http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_MIDEAST?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_MIDEAST?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

IT IS A FAIT-ACOMPLI

but nobody is listening.

if things are going so great wouldn't he be able to accelerate the cutbacks rather than slowing them down? Does anybody ever think of this kind of thing before they put this shit in the papers without questioning it?

WTF good are the US media?

January has 18 U.S. military dead in 12 days, which is creeping back up to "normal" levels.

his next brilliant idea

Just like when you go to fast food joints

Why are most of you so anti-war when one of the top Dem. candidates (Clinton) is pro-war?

Senator Clinton's or any other candidate exactly. In the Democratic party we have the ability to disagree on various issues and not follow goose-step with what the Party leadership says.

Bush Says Troop Cutbacks Might Stop, January 12, 2008



Will someone come and arrest this charlatan?

NOW??



America cannot take another 12 months of this.

I would like somebody to ask this loser what the hell "success" looks like!!!

no replacements going back? Has the number of troops dropped lately? What the hell am I missing?

I think it was when we pulled out 5000 troops and replaced them with 6000.

It certainly will, along with all his other accomplishments: the blackhole in the economy, the shredded Constitution and the end of the US claim to be a beacon of democracy. The next president can't fix all this. He or she can only hope to limit the consequences of EIGHT years of pure corruption and incompetence.

He's the gift that keeps on giving. We'll pay the rest of our lives, our children's and our grand children's.

By Raymond Whitaker, Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem and Anne Penketh in Muscat
Published: 13 January 2008

In a development that could have an impact on the US presidential race, President George Bush said yesterday that the US could slow the pace of troop withdrawals from Iraq if commanders on the ground considered it necessary ...

Gulf states have shown equal lack of enthusiasm for another of Mr Bush's preoccupations: banging the drum against Iran, which he mentioned four times in his 15-minute statement after the Petraeus-Crocker meeting. Local reports said Kuwait's emir would tell Mr Bush of his concerns that a US strike on Iran would destabilise the Gulf, which is the key to world oil supplies.

A senior Omani official stressed that the members of the Gulf Co-Operation Council were seeking a negotiated solution to the crisis with Iran over its nuclear ambitions, and did not see why a country should be prevented from obtaining nuclear-generated electricity under UN supervision.

"We have excellent relations with Iran. We don't see a threat from Iran's nuclear programme and we are their next-door neighbour," the official told The Independent on Sunday. He also played down Iran's threat to close down the Strait of Hormuz in the case of a possible armed confrontation with the US, pointing out that the Iranians "would also suffer from the closure of Hormuz" ...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article3333870.ece

who are fighting to overthrow the current Iraqi government.


Iraqi soldiers in Sunni militant area

Troops set up a base in hopes they can take over security from U.S. forces.
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 12, 2008
HEMBIS, IRAQ -- Singing and cheering, Iraqi soldiers rolled through snow and sleet in open trucks Friday to set up a base on the outskirts of the reputed nerve center of Sunni militants who had forced the northern Diyala River valley into their self-styled Islamic caliphate.

The two companies from the 1st Iraqi Army Division that arrived from Anbar province were the first Iraqi forces to penetrate the former militant stronghold in more than a year.

U.S. commanders hope the Iraqis can quickly take over security responsibility there to free up their forces, which launched a nationwide push this week against the Sunni militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq12jan12,1,6671179.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=4&cset=true

My, how that's turned out not too bad for HIM...

they are over there, that this is just insane. THEY SHOULD MUTINY!