Military leader says troop level could rise

[MadisonProgressive]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002704500_troops26.html

By Josh Meyer

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said Sunday that the number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase next year, not decrease, if the insurgency continues.

Gen. Peter Pace's comments, on "Fox News Sunday," suggested that the Pentagon's plan to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, announced Friday by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, depended on several variables.

Pace, like Rumsfeld, said the military and the Bush administration have no specific target for how many troops to keep in Iraq now that the general elections are over.

Instead, Pace said, military commanders will continue to monitor the Pentagon's "offramps and onramps based on what we have on the ground."

[MadisonProgressive]

1. Surprahse, surprahse!