Kucinich calls Pentagon Iraq exit strategy "fantasyland"

TWO YEARS IN IRAQ
THE U.S. EXIT STRATEGY

March 21, 2005
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usiraq214185397mar21,0,197892.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

WASHINGTON - Rear Adm. William Sullivan, a top military planner, struggled last week at a House subcommittee hearing to explain how the Pentagon's estimates of Iraqi security forces keep dropping.

A chart showed a steady rise in Iraqi forces from 90,000, in October 2003, to 206,000 in April 2004. Suddenly there was a precipitous drop to 132,000.

The reason, Sullivan said, was that the U.S. had been counting police and soldiers who were on the payroll, as opposed to those actually reporting for duty.

With a new training program in place, the number climbed back up to 160,000 in August. But in September it dropped again to 90,000. This time, Sullivan said, officials decided not to count forces that had not yet been equipped, and to stop including night watchmen.

Now, Sullivan said, the number is back up to 142,472. But that figure, too, is misleading, Sullivan admitted, because tens of thousands are absent without leave at any given time.

The information was too much for Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). "This is like fantasyland," he said. "This is as fictive as the weapons of mass destruction are."

It's nice to hear someone once in a while, besides the people on DU, unafraid to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

He is one of the few there who isn't afraid to stand up.

Instead of posting another (*******) thread about Iraq I'll just leave my next one here:

Anti-war protests spill into second day as demonstrators mark invasion's anniversary- (Many thanks to those who stood up this weekend!)

http://www.kcautv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3102734&nav=1kgl2TNN

BOSTON Crowds of anti-war demonstrators gathered in communities scattered across the nation to protest the war in Iraq.

The Sunday demonstrations came a day after larger protests in dozens of other cities on the second anniversary of the U-S-led invasion.

In Boston, there were two-thousand protesters. Police say seven people were arrested.

In Philadelphia, a few hundred people from about a dozen activist groups gathered at a Quaker meeting house and marched to the federal courthouse.

Anti-war rallies were also held Sunday in Amherst, Massachusetts, Indianapolis, Reno, Nevada, and Asheville, North Carolina.