Defense eyeing more deployments to Iraq

[DoYouEverWonder]

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is developing plans to send four more battalions to Iraq early next year, partly to boost security in Baghdad, defense officials said Wednesday. Meanwhile, a commission studying Iraq policy said it would make its report next week.

The extra combat engineer battalions of reserves, likely to be sent to Baghdad, would total about 3,500 troops, officials said. They said the units, coming from around the United States, have already done tours in Iraq but there has been no final decision on which will go.

The moves come as violence continues to rise in Baghdad, and President Bush is under growing pressure to craft an exit strategy that would withdraw a substantial number of U.S. troops from Iraq while shifting more responsibility to the Iraqi government. The Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission looking into Iraq war policy, said it will release its report to the president, Congress and the public on Dec. 6.

The commission, led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., is widely expected to call for regional talks as part of its recommendations, including involvement by Syria and Iran. The Bush administration has been reluctant to engage those two countries, which it says have abetted the violence in Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061129/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_iraq

Someone needs to get the bottle out of Rummie's hands and sell him a clue.

[Tight_rope]

1. Who's left to eye...

The Bush twins I guess.:shrug:

[KamaAina]

2. It's official: Gen. Peter Pace is a moran

as if you had any doubts.

"This is a very complex problem, and the more 10-pound brains we can bring to bear on the problem for our nation, the better," Pace said.

Most people's brains weigh around 3 pounds, not 10, unless (like Pace's, apparently) they're made of lead or something. :dunce:

[Barrett808]

3. Iraq Study Group to issue report December 6

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Iraq Study Group will publish its recommendations for strategy changes designed to halt the country's slide into chaos on December 6, a source close to the panel said.

President George W. Bush and members of Congress were likely to be briefed on the eagerly awaited findings of the commission co-chaired by former secretary of state James Baker before that date, the source told AFP.

Further details of publication plans were to be released later Wednesday, the source said.

The 10-member group of high-profile Washington insiders is seen as offering political cover for a change of US strategy on Iraq and for political rivals to coalesce around a common strategy.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061129/pl_afp/usiraqfuture

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. so soon, yet too late.

given the massive changes taking place every day on the ground, it will not only be ignored by Bush, it will be too dated and stale to offer any effective advice, even if that was Baker's intent. And I have my doubts about that, too. It is too convenient a tool to disengage the media and the public attention on the bloody facts on the ground. and distract them from just how bad things are getting.

[peacebird]

5. Cheney/Bush/Rove still calling Iran and Syria terrorists even as Iraq&Iran swear allegiance

to each other.... Maliki stands up Bush - to "dine" with someone else.... Does it matter what the Baker group proposes? Who will stop Bush when he orders strikes on Iran - ostensibly to "support" Israel? (my guess on how it will go down)

India and China have pacts in place. Iran has sworn to support Iraq. More and more Bush is being relegated to the sidelines in the Middle East, and his ego cannot stand THAT for long.

Bushco is like a cornered rabid dog at this point - he flew to the Middle East and got stood up by his stooge, just as he was about to have a "stern talk" with him. And this AFTER being publically spanked in the elections AND THEN by Poppy...

I'm betting something really really bad is about to go down.

[Little Wing]

6. And the next day, Bush will be running to his Pearl Harbor

[IndianaGreen]

7. It is a bullshit report that offers too little and comes too late!

No amount of spin by the Washington foreign policy establishment can salvage the situation in Iraq. There are no options left other than leave or die!

[MGD]

8. What about carpet bombing? Is that an option yet?

[maddezmom]

9. NYT: U.S. Plans to Send 3,500 More Troops to Baghdad

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 — The United States is planning to send another 3,500 soldiers to Baghdad to help restore security there, Defense Department officials said Wednesday.

The increase has not been formally approved by the Bush administration, but the decision could be made in the coming weeks and the first of the additional troops may begin arriving in Iraq early next year.

The additional forces are likely to come from four reserve combat engineer battalions in the United States, though planners have not notified the units that would be sent, the officials said. Sending more engineers to Baghdad would allow the building of more checkpoints, trenches and other measures aimed at limiting the movements of insurgents and sectarian militias.

But the units also bring additional combat power that would help make up for a shortfall in Iraqi troops in the capital, the officials said. To further increase troop levels in Baghdad, a U.S. brigade equipped with fast-moving, armored Stryker vehicles is being shifted from northern Iraq to Baghdad, officials said.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/29/world/middleeast/29cnd-troops.html?_r=1&oref=slogin