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A concerted effort to start unprecedented talks between Taliban and British and American envoys was outlined today in a significant change in tactics designed to bring about a breakthrough in the attritional, eight-year conflict in Afghanistan. Senior ministers and commanders on the ground believe they have created the right conditions to open up a dialogue with "second-tier" local leaders now the Taliban have been forced back in a swath of Helmand province. They are hoping that Britain's continuing military presence in Helmand, strengthened by the arrival of thousands of US troops, will encourage Taliban commanders to end the insurgency. There...

The surge has worked in Iraq. In 2006, the widespread belief of many in Washington, such as the Iraq Study Group, and Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, was that the war was lost, and that we had no alternative but to withdrawal in defeat. History will record that the legacy of the George W. Bush Presidency is victory in Iraq. There seems to be no doubt that despite some danger and setbacks, the signed exit agreement for withdrawal negotiated by the Bush administration will play out by 2010. There is now a relatively stable democracy in Iraq that is...

G8 prepares for global recovery By Guy Dinmore in Lecce, Italy Published: June 13 2009 12:32 | Last updated: June 13 2009 12:32 G8 finance ministers on Saturday agreed that their economies were showing “increased signs of stabilisation” and for the first time started to craft exit strategies to counter the inflationary impact of their stimulus measures. A draft communique of their ministerial meeting in Lecce – a Baroque city in southern Italy that was sealed off for two days of talks – noted a recovery in stock markets, a decline in interest rate spreads, improved business and consumer confidence...

Excerpted from: http://www.commoditynewscenter.com/articles/Insight/Barack%27s_Obama%3B_The_New_Iraq?page=1 Exit Strategy; noun - A plan for removing oneself from a difficult situation if it arises- 1. "The method by which a venture capitalist or business owner intends to get out of an investment that he or she has made in the past." "Though Mr. Obama's comments are sound in principal, how will they play out in practice? Never once (to my knowledge) has there been a detailed discussion of what the government's exit strategy at GM will be. Not once have the US tax payers heard a reasonable explanation as to how they will get out...

I guess you can only fire the new CEO on Election Day.

President Barack Obama insisted on Sunday that military force alone would not end the war in Afghanistan and suggested a U.S. "exit strategy" could be part of a new comprehensive policy he is expected to unveil soon... "What we can't do is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to be able to solve our problems," Obama said. "So what we're looking for is a comprehensive strategy. And there's got to be an exit strategy ... There's got to be a sense that this is not perpetual drift..."

Iraqi, U.S. officials cite different pullout terms As the endgame of the U.S. involvement in Iraq develops, some plans are in place but there are several practical questions that remain unanswered. Under the withdrawal plan announced by President Barack Obama in late February, some 35,000 to 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in Iraq from summer 2010 to the end of 2011. Their mission is supposed to be limited to training Iraqi forces, conducting counter-terrorism operations, and protecting U.S. civilian and military personnel operating in the country. Some of the previous ideas about a continuing U.S. presence in the region have...

The Family Research Council is accusing the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) of "abandoning" two socially conservative female congresswomen who are running for re-election. FRC says the National Republican Campaign Committee has pulled ad spending from races involving freshman Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann and Colorado Representative Marilyn Musgrave. It was Musgrave who proposed the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004. David Nammo is executive director of FRC Action PAC. He says whether it was going to give Bachmann and Musgrave money or stop running ads for them, the NRCC sent the wrong message to social conservatives by announcing it was pulling...

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) -- On leave from the violence he had survived in the war in Iraq, a young Marine was so wary of crime on the streets of his own home town that he carried only $8 to avoid becoming a robbery target. Despite his caution, Lance Cpl. Robert Crutchfield, 21, was shot point-blank in the neck during a robbery at a bus stop. Feeding and breathing tubes kept him alive 41/2 months, until he died of an infection on May 18. Two men have been charged in the attack, and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said Friday the...

Bin Laden Looks for an Exit StrategyBy Stephen Schwartz : 11 Sep 2007 Since 2001, each September we remember. Today, we first think of the frontline fighters in Iraq, Americans, Iraqis, and other members of the Coalition in combat, first against Saudi-incited, Wahhabi terrorism - miscalled a "Sunni insurgency." But none of us forgets the terror inflicted on the whole world six years ago; the sudden appearance, after so many years, of a real sense of American national unity, and the equally-surprising commitment to change in U.S. policies in the Middle East. President George W. Bush, in vowing to...

NEW YORK The Pittsburgh newspaper owned by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife yesterday called the Bush administration's plans to stay the course in Iraq a "prescription for American suicide." The editorial in the Tribune-Review added, "And quite frankly, during last Thursday's news conference, when George Bush started blathering about 'sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved,' we had to question his mental stability." ...

The war in Iraq is approaching a kind of self-imposed climax. Public disenchantment is palpable. Congress will surely press for an accelerated, if not total, withdrawal of American forces. Demands for a political solution are likely to mount. But precipitate withdrawal would produce a disaster. It would not end the war but shift it to other areas, like Lebanon or Jordan or Saudi Arabia. The war between the Iraqi factions would intensify. The demonstration of American impotence would embolden radical Islamism and further radicalize its disciples from Indonesia and India to the suburbs of European capitals. We face a number...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. may be able to reduce combat forces in Iraq by next spring if Iraq's own security forces continue to grow and improve, a senior American commander said Friday. He denied reports the U.S. is arming Sunni insurgent groups to help in the fight against al-Qaida. Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top day-to-day commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, did not predict any reductions in U.S. forces but said such redeployments may be feasible by spring. There are currently 156,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from his headquarters outside Baghdad, Odierno...

Pardon my rant, but this ridiculous debate about when we should abandon, retreat, wave goodbye to Afghanistan is getting under my skin. Considering the sacrifices of Canadians killed and maimed to date, and those of their families and loved ones, the "let's go home" crowd just doesn't get it. Western democratic governments of all political stripes have spent the past four decades, post-Vietnam, agonizing over the criteria to be applied when determining if their nation should deploy in support of a war effort. Overworked bureaucratic terminology such as "an identifiable end-state," "adequate resources to ensure victory," "willing partners" and, the...

It is early 1943. The Nazi Study Group has just released its Report on how to get out of the “entanglements” of WW II in Europe. There was no such study group, I hear you cry. But if there had been, based on the evidence of the Iraq Study Group Report, here’s how it would have gone. The war in Europe is going poorly, and getting worse. The Nazis have beat the snot out of the Allies in Europe (threw us off the continent, in fact). The Nazis are beating the snot out of our Allies in North Africa. Field...

James Baker's "Iraq Study Group" seems to have been cast on the same basis as Liza Minnelli's last wedding. A stellar lineup: Donna Summer, Mickey Rooney, the Doobie Brothers, Gina Lollobrigida, Michael Jackson, Mia Farrow, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Jill St. John. That's Liza's wedding, not the Baker Commission. But at both gatherings everyone who was anyone was there, no matter how long ago it was they were anyone. So the fabulous Baker boy was accompanied by Clinton officials Leon Panetta and Bill Perry, Clinton golfing buddy Vernon Jordan, Clinton's fellow sex fiend Chuck Robb, the quintessential ''moderate'' Republican...

A workable winning exit strategy. Basically, stop pussy footing around and win the war in Bagdad by an Iraq led divide and conquer strategy. Get the Iraq's government to take their gloves off and take the lead in this conflict... It's a winnable strategy, but only one that the Iraq leadership can successfully execute. * Step 1 -- Iraq needs to get Sadam's trial over and done ASAP -- execute him... OK, perhaps a side issue... * Step 2 -- Iraq needs to stop pussy footing around with the insurgency (whoever it is). o Start by dividing Bagdad into various...

Five years is not so very long in the life of nations, but there is a sense that the attacks of Sept. 11 and their aftermath have been too long with us. On Monday, as is right, there will be solemn commemorations and strong statements of resolve. I was in New York for the first anniversary commemorations and, amidst the still raw emotions, the attitude was resolute. Neither in Canada nor the United States, nor in the West in general, is that the case today. It is an ominous development, because resolve on the home front is the indispensable requirement...

In light of Bill Clinton's recent criticism of the US armed conflict in Iraq while on Saudi soil, of continued allegations by Congressional Democrats that President Bush lied about WMDs (or at least twisted the truth) in spite of their own votes in support of the war utilizing the same intelligence, I think it is well that we review President Clinton's own assessment of intelligence during his administration, a couple of years before 9/11/01. Exactly where WMDs might be is still a question though recent findings of enriched uranium next to sud missles indicates President Clinton's assessment (below) was accurate....

There is a repulsive conversation going on in Washington at the moment. Journalists, un-named Pentagon officials and many politicians are discussing, as if true, the precise method by which President Bush intends to exit from Iraq in time for the midterm elections next year. Perhaps future events will reveal me to be naive (not a charge usually posted against me). But for the record, I do not believe that President Bush is cynically looking for an exit strategy. However, most of the Washington political class clearly believes he is planning to pull troops out of Iraq in the next three...

The United States needs a new strategy in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. The war is at best a stalemate; the large American presence now causes more trouble than it prevents. We must disengage from Iraq—and we must do it by removing most American and allied military units within 18 months. Though disengagement has risks and costs, they can be managed. The consequences would not be worse for the United States than the present situation, and capabilities for dealing with them are impressive, if properly employed. Some people argue that the United States should disengage because the war was a...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2005 – "Quitting is not an exit strategy" for Iraq and would open a Pandora's box of risks to the American people, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters today. "It would be a formula for putting more American people at still greater risk (and) an invitation for more terrorist violence," the secretary said. "Indeed, the more the enemies make it sound as though the United States is going to quit, the more encouraged they will be," Rumsfeld continued. "And the more successful they will be in recruiting and in raising money and in trying to...

Barring any major surprises in Iraq, the Pentagon tentatively plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces there early next year by as many as three combat brigades, from 18 now, but to keep at least one brigade "on call" in Kuwait in case more troops are needed quickly, several senior military officers said. Pentagon authorities also have set a series of "decision points" during 2006 to consider further force cuts that, under a "moderately optimistic" scenario, would drop the total number of troops from more than 150,000 now to fewer than 100,000, including 10 combat brigades, by the end...

Rumsfeld fuels hopes of cut in US forces in Iraq by Guy Dinmore in Washington and Steve Negus in Cairo Published: November 20 2005 18:58 Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, on Sunday fuelled expectations that the US was contemplating a big reduction in its forces in Iraq next year, following reports that commanders had submitted plans to cut troop numbers to below 100,000. Appearing on several Sunday television news shows, Mr Rumsfeld spoke of the significant progress in Iraq on the political front and in training Iraqi government forces, which he said now numbered 212,000. Mr Rumsfeld was asked...

WASHINGTON - Amid all the actual chaos in Iraq and the political chaos in Washington, there is word that the Pentagon, where planning is everything, has drawn up a plan to draw down the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Brilliant, simple, stirring...deserving more attention than it got House Republicans News conference on the U.S. policy in Iraq (11/17/2005) Comments of J.D. Hayworth (R-Arizona): "J.D. Hayworth. Arizona Five." "There's no need to sugarcoat what has transpired today. People talk about exit strategies. Well, let's let the American people decide." "The majority's exit strategy is Victory and Freedom for the people of Iraq. Now, sadly, many on the Democratic side have revealed their exit strategy: Surrender." "The American people will not stand for Surrender. The American people are made of sterner stuff. And the American people understand that if we turn...

Britain is putting the final touches to an exit strategy from Iraq that will be launched with next month's election of a permanent new government in Baghdad. According to several senior sources, the policy under discussion with Washington envisages the replacement of the current Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim Jaafari with a more effective successor. British soldier in Iraq Aiming for home: British troops may start withdrawing next year It would also involve an agreement with the new Iraqi administration on a phased hand-over to Iraqi forces; a reduction in forces that could begin in the middle of next year; and...

The Hill is a specialized publication, mostly for Members of Congress and those whose living depends on Congress. Still, an article in The Hill today (Wednesday) is typical of the media coverage of the Senate vote yesterday to require “reports” to Congress on the progress of the Iraq War. The title is “Needed: An Exit Strategy from Iraq.” It is written by Rep. Jane Harmon (D. Calif) and its lede includes these paragraphs. "There is now a strong bipartisan consensus that we need an exit strategy. But yet to emerge is the content of that strategy. "We have two overriding...

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, today endorsed a measure introduced by Senate Republicans that would force President George Bush to lay out his plan for ending the war against terrorists in Iraq. “We think it is important for a democracy such as the United States to be transparent with the public,” said Mr. Zarqawi in a video statement released to al-Jazeera TV and CNN. “We’ll all feel better when we learn strategic and tactical details of how Mr. Bush intends to stop al Qaeda from turning Iraq into the first major victory in the global jihad.” As...

The case for victory Tony Blankley August 24, 2005 In Tuesday's Wall St. Journal, reporters Farnaz Fassihi and Christopher Cooper wrote the phrase: "Mr. Bush and others have stopped talking so much of an outright victory in Iraq as they focus on plans to train Iraqi soldiers … so American troops can come home."  I guess they didn't read President Bush's radio speech from three days earlier where he said, in referring to our troops who had died in Iraq: "Now we must finish the task that our troops have given their lives for and honor their sacrifice by completing...

Summer is the season for World War II anniversary celebrations: May 8, Victory in Europe Day; June 6, D-Day; Aug. 15, Victory in Japan Day. But one WWII anniversary day is rarely celebrated: Sept. 29. This year, Sept. 29 will be the 67th anniversary of the signing of the Munich Agreement by (in order as their signatures appear on the document): Adolph Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini. Today's politicians please take note: History tends to remember harshly those statesmen who sell out their and other nations -- even if it is done under cover of impeccable diplomatic...

As I've said in earlier columns, I have no particular skill for predicting the future. I discover the future the same way as most other mortals: one second at a time. But I can predict certain things with uncanny accuracy. For instance, if I send my teenaged son to clean the front bathroom, I know exactly how events are going to transpire. He'll grunt, stomp around a little (just in case I don't realize that cleaning the bathroom is a serious imposition), and eventually gather up a random selection of rags and cleaning products and head down the hall toward...

               The timesonline which is the Times in the UK started out its article in the Aug 12 2005 issue this way: GEORGE BUSH loves his Prarie Chapel Ranch in Crawford so much that he has spent almost one fifth of his presidency “taking the pulse of the heartlands” in this big-buckled, open — if not red — necked, beef-eating corner of Texas. There is no need to tell the “rest of the story” because it is obvious that this newspaper wants American to surrender in Iraq.            The anti-warists, anti-Americans, anti-Israelis will not be content until the American public...

There have been conflicting reports about the timing of American troop withdrawals from Iraq. Gen. George Casey, commander of U.S. forces there, has announced that the United States intends to begin a "fairly substantial" withdrawal of U.S. forces after the projected December elections establish a constitutional government. Other sources have indicated that this will involve 30,000 troops, or some 22 percent of U.S. forces in Iraq. Some high-level statements from Baghdad have indicated that the beginning of withdrawals may be delayed until next summer. On either schedule, progress is dependent upon improvements in the security situation and in the training...

George Casey, the commander of US forces in Iraq, has announced that the US intends to begin a "fairly substantial" withdrawal of US forces from Iraq soon after the projected December elections establish a constitutional government. Other sources have indicated that this will involve 30,000 troops, or about 22 per cent of the total US forces in Iraq. The withdrawal is said to be made possible by improvements in the security situation and progress in the training of Iraqi forces to replace American troops. But how are these terms to be defined? In a war without front lines, does a...

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for beginning a withdrawal from Iraq, even as it is weighing the risk of moving so quickly that Iraqi security forces collapse without U.S. support. The benefits of a U.S. drawdown are pretty clear. Fewer troops would likely mean fewer casualties and less strain on the Army and Marine Corps, which already are stretched thin. And it would lessen the degree to which the presence of foreign forces fuels an anti-U.S. insurgency. There are now about 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq in a war with dwindling popularity among American voters. At best,...

NEW YORK, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pentagon has developed a detailed plan in recent months to scale down the U.S. troop presence in Iraq to about 80,000 by mid-2006 and down to 40,000 to 60,000 troops by the end of that year, according to two Pentagon officials involved in the planning who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of their work. Their account squares with a British memo leaked in mid-July, report Senior Editor Michael Hirsh and National Security Correspondent John Barry in the current issue of Newsweek. "Emerging U.S. plans assume that 14 out...

Iraq’s transitional prime minister called today for a speedy withdrawal of US troops and the top US commander in Iraq said he believed a “fairly substantial” pullout could begin next spring and summer. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said at a joint news conference with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the time has arrived to plan a co-ordinated transition from American to Iraqi military control throughout the country. Gen George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, told US reporters travelling with Rumsfeld that he believed a US troop withdrawal could begin by spring 2006 if progress continues on the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 27, 2005 – A "fairly substantial" withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq could take place next spring or summer if the insurgency doesn't grow and the country's political process continues as scheduled, the commander of coalition forces said here today. U.S. Army Gen. George W. Casey, head of Multinational Force Iraq, spoke during a surprise visit to Iraq by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. At a later joint news conference with Rumsfeld, Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said the departure of U.S. forces from his country depends on how soon Iraq can train, equip and field its...

BAGHDAD –– US and Iraqi authorities are to set up a body to decide on the crucial question of how and when US troops will hand over security in the war-torn country to Iraqi forces, the US embassy said Sunday. The new joint task force will meet next week and report to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari on handover plans in 60 days, US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said in a statement. "The joint task force will establish criteria and conditions that will help determine when Iraqi security forces ... will be capable of assuming full responsibility to secure Iraq," the...

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERSFROM: William Kristol & Gary SchmittSUBJECT: Bring The Troops Home?Yesterday’s front page of the Washington Post carried a story about a classified memo from Britain’s defense minister to Prime Minister Tony Blair detailing “emerging U.S. plans” to reduce by half the number of soldiers in Iraq by next summer. This would leave American troop levels at around 66,000. The Pentagon has denied there are any fixed plans as yet and reductions will depend on conditions in Iraq.Although the Pentagon is surely accurate in saying that no final determination to reduce troop levels has been made, it is...

<p>WASHINGTON - Major reductions in U.S. troop levels in Iraq next year appear increasingly likely, although Pentagon officials said Monday it is too early to predict the specific size and timing. The Pentagon is eager to pull some of its 135,000 troops out of Iraq in 2006, partly because the counterinsurgency is stretching the Army and Marine Corps perilously thin as casualties mount and partly because officials believe the presence of a large U.S. force is generating tacit support for anti-American violence.</p>

LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - A leaked document from Britain's Defence Ministry says the British and U.S. governments are planning to reduce their troop levels in Iraq by more than half by mid-2006, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported. The memo, reportedly written by Defence Minister John Reid, said Britain would reduce its troop numbers to 3,000 from 8,500 by the middle of next year. "We have a commitment to hand over to Iraqi control in Al Muthanna and Maysan provinces (two of the four provinces under British control in southern Iraq) in October 2005 and in the other two,...

The UK has more than 8,000 troops in Iraq Plans have been drawn up to withdraw thousands of UK and US troops from Iraq by the Spring of 2006. The paper, by Defence Secretary John Reid, suggests the UK's 8,500 troops in Iraq could be cut to 3,000, saving around £500m a year. The document, leaked to the Mail on Sunday, also sets out US plans to cut its troops from 176,000 to 66,000. However, Mr Reid said this was only one possibility and troops would stay in Iraq "as long as they were needed". He said in a statement...

SECRET PLAN TO QUIT IRAQ Sat Jul 09 2005 19:16:16 ET BRITAIN and America are secretly preparing to withdraw most of their troops from Iraq - despite warnings of the grave consequences for the region, the SUNDAY MAIL in UK is reporting. A secret paper written by UK Defence Secretary John Reid for Tony Blair reveals that many of the 8,500 British troops in Iraq are set to be brought home within three months, with most of the rest returning six months later. The leaked document, marked Secret: UK Eyes Only, appears to fly in the face of Mr Blair...

LONDON (Reuters) - A leaked document from Britain's Defense Ministry says the British and U.S. governments are planning to reduce their troop levels in Iraq by more than half by mid-2006, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported. The memo, reportedly written by Defense Minister John Reid, said Britain would reduce its troop numbers to 3,000 from 8,500 by the middle of next year. "We have a commitment to hand over to Iraqi control in Al Muthanna and Maysan provinces (two of the four provinces under British control in southern Iraq) in October 2005 and in the other two, Dhi Qar...

Former President Bill Clinton says setting deadline for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would aid terrorists trying to destroy a growing democracy. "They are dying beside us in the service of what they hope will be an independent country," said Clinton, speaking at the 2005 Aspen Ideas Festival on Friday night. "I wouldn't give it up yet. I'd stick in there and try to make it work. And I wouldn't set a deadline either. I think that's a mistake. If we set a deadline, (the terrorists) will believe all they have to do is wait. So unless you know you...

GLENEAGLES, Scotland -- Italy plans to begin withdrawing some of its troops from Iraq in September, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Friday. Berlusconi, who was a strong supporter of President Bush on Iraq, sent 3,000 troops to the country after the ouster of Saddam Hussein to help rebuild the country. He had previously indicated he hoped a pullout could begin in September. "We will begin withdrawing 300 men in the month of September," Berlusconi said at the G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.......................

If George Bush did not flirt with withdrawal during last year's presidential campaign, when it looked as if Iraq might cost him his political career, he certainly will not do so as a second-term president. Americans know that. But the world may not. Particularly as it keeps hearing congressional voices calling for withdrawal, timetables and exit strategies. Hence the president's nationally televised address to the nation Tuesday on Iraq. One purpose, of course, was to state, once again, the case for the war. But the most important line was the restatement of his position on withdrawal before victory: "This will...

During hostilities in Vietnam, U.S. casualties were fewer than 10,000 at the end of 1967 and the beginning of 1968. From those days of the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam, to the close of hostilities in 1975, nearly 48,000 more American service personnel died. During that same post-Tet period, anti-war sentiment reached a fever pitch back in the United States. These statistics stand firm as a stark reminder of how a populace of an uninformed or misinformed nation can kill their own citizen soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen. During this same post-Tet period, the senior North Vietnamese Commander, General Giap,...