Troop pull-out from Iraq to be speeded up

The Guardian ^ | Tuesday May 23, 2006 | Will Woodward in Baghdad and Ewen MacAskill

[elfman2]

George Bush and Tony Blair are to discuss in Washington this week a programme of troop withdrawals from Iraq that will be much faster and more ambitious than originally planned. In a phased pullout in which the two countries will act in tandem, Britain is to begin with a handover to Iraqi security forces in Muthanna province in July and the Americans will follow suit in Najaf, the Shia holy city. Other withdrawals will quickly follow over the remainder of the year. Officials in both administrations hope that Britain's 8,000 forces in Iraq can be down to 5,000 by the end of the year and that the American forces will be reduced from 133,000 to about 100,000.

[elfman2]

Link to The Guardian Story Here .

Good commentary on The Belmont Club here.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

John Kerry and the rest of the democrats will start saying this is all because of their work.

[Mamzelle]

So, we'll have 33K troops coming back...

[kylaka]

I wish the Bush adminstration would do a better job of explaining how troops are deployed. While all troops are in harms way, some are more so than others. For example the ratio of support troops to combatants or engagement troops is about 8 to 1. At 130,000 troops deployed, we have about 10,000 engaging the insurgents from day to day. The rest are lugging supplies, water and building schools and infastructure. The media is doing a wonderful job cheerleading for Osama and his compadres, but Bush and his boosters seem a bit derelict in their duty to keep America informed as well.

[Jackson Brown]

This "draw down to under 100,000 by end of the year" story was denied by the White House today!

[knews_hound]

This is a classic example of the Democrat spin machine at work.

The DOD has stated, for 6 months, that if training schedules were met and local units were able to take over, we would draw down 30,000 or more troops by summer.

The DOD plans it, implements it and the MSM spins it as retreat.

The DOD has also planned for the remaining troops to be garrisoned in remote bases, any bets if they spin that as "hunkering down"?

I will give you 5-2 and even

Scum, utter scum.

Cheers,

knewshound

In Pakistan, the beating continues

[SandRat]

Will someone please tell the Belmont Club, the BEEB, The Guardian and whoever the bloody else that's spouting these pull out rumors to kindly read this!!!

Too Soon to Announce Troops Cuts, Pentagon Spokesman Says

[bnelson44]

100,000 is about where they said we would be this year sometime.

It isn't much of a reduction.

[bnelson44]

Blair already announced troop reductions for the UK.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bush started hinting at it this week. That is one of the only things that might bring the poll numbers up.

[Spruce]

What a Quagmire! We should abandon the free-Iraqis now, and let the Jihadis take over.

[wretchard]

Belmont Club has been altered to reflect Defenselink announcement that pullouts are not yet final. Thanks.

Wretchard