A Withdrawal Plan?

It's about the politics, stupid.

They leaked this because the natives (Congressional Republicans) are getting restless. If you think there's a bunch of high-minded, serious people in the White House thinking about what's really best for Iraq, then you're an even bigger idiot than I imagined.

Okay, Mr. Faith Based?

Joe,
The Sunni tribes fighting the Islamic State of Iraq isn't really a success. What do you have to say about those tribes engaging in talks with Sadr, whose organization has also been talking to the 1920 Revolution Brigades as well? Seems to me the noose is tightening around Maliki: http://dcdialogue.blogspot.com/2007/05/our-man-in-baghdad.html

Joe Klein replies: Good points all. The 1920 Brigades are closely associated with Harith al-Dari who has turned against AQI, which is a good thing. As for Sadr, about 1/3 the Mahdi Army is former Shi'ite Ba'athists who've had a loose alliance with some of the indigenous Sunnis from the start--they joined the fight in Fallujah in 2004 you may recall. This is good news because if the indigenous Sunnis can kick out AQI--a longshot--and this becomes a straight-out Iraqi civil war, Bush's rationale for staying will grow more tenuous, especially with Republicans. Not saying he'll quit, never that. But any defeat for AQ is a good thing.

"It may mean that we've decided to side with the Shi'ites in the civil war since they're the majority and--I don't agree with this, by the way--the best hope for stability."

Stability?

We had stability with Saddam.

Tens of thousands of innocent people died so we could have a stable Shiite theocracy, hostile to US and Israel, allied with Iran?

What happens to the Sunnis? We are pushing them into the arms of Al Qaeda. Not just Sunnis in Iraq but Sunnis in the region horrified at what is happening to their religious brothers.

Joe,
First, thanks for replying, I appreciate that. Second, Sadr is a realist. His alliances are non-ideological and shift as the situation on the ground changes. He loosed his militia in 2004 when the fight for Fallujah was occurring to solidify his hold over Sadr city, Kufa and Najaf. It worked rather well.

I understand where you’re coming from thinking any defeat for the Islamic State of Iraq – AQI as you call it – is a success for us. I am a bit stunned that you think Anbar Awakening kicking out AQI would be a success because it would simplify the conflict. In real terms it may alleviate the suffering of Iraqi civilians but in terms of establishing anything that remotely approaches a state that will survive our departure and not set the region down the path of worst case scenario it’s a net loss.

"The mission would instead focus on the training of Iraqi troops and fighting Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, while removing Americans from many of the counterinsurgency efforts inside Baghdad. "

Hmmm...where I have I heard that before...?

Oh, I remeber, it was called "staying the course"!

"BAGHDAD - A day after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr resurfaced to end nearly four months in hiding and demand U.S. troops leave Iraq, American forces raided his Sadr City stronghold and killed five suspected militia fighters in air strikes Saturday.

U.S. and Iraqi forces called in the air strikes after a raid in which they captured a "suspected terrorist cell leader," the U.S. military said in statement.

The statement claimed the captured man was "the suspected leader in a secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training."

////////////////

ABOUT G-D TIME, IF ABOUT 3 YEARS TOO LATE.

WIPE THEM ALL OUT, NOW.

GO USA GO.

As usual, Joe assumes that the US is what is keeping Iraq from a rapid descent into chaos, when it is the US presence that is causing a slower but inexorable spiral into chaos.

Everyone in the region (with the possible exception of a few thousand sunni fundamentalists) understands that stability in Iraq is to their advantage, and almost everyone understands that a permanent US presence in Iraq as a problem for them. What is happening in Anbar is not a US success -- it is happening despite the US presence there, and should stay in the country training Iraqi (read Shiite) "security forces", the tribal leaders could easily turn on US forces just as it has recently "turned" on AQ.

Nobody of Iraq's neighbors wants Iraq to become a safe-haven for AQ, because AQ is the enemy of the Saudi and Kuwaiti royal families, the "secular" Turkish government and army, the Iranian theocracy, and the Syrian oligarchy. All of these nations had managed to accomodate their ethnic and religious minorities -- that is, until the US became directly involved in the region in the aftermath of the first US/Iraq war.

For instance, Kurdish separatists existed in Turkey prior to 1991, but the death toll in the period from 1984 to 1991 was only 2500. After the US started actively supporting the Iraqi Kurds in 1991, Kurdish separatists in Turkey became far more powerful and agressive, and the death toll rose to 20,000 over the next four years. Its unlikely that this is mere coincidence, rather it appears that US support for Iraqi Kurds resulted in direct and indirect support for Turkey's Kurdish separatist movement.

And the Saudi based radical sunni fundamentalists movement which (for all intents and purposes) had its origins in US support for anyone willing to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, resulted in the Saud's accomodating these fundamentalists, and "exporting" the most militantly agressive individuals to Afghanistan.

Remove the US from the equation entirely, and these disparate groups will reach accomodation among themselves because it is in ALL their best interests. Stability and order will be restored, and AQ will be denied a "safe haven" once we are gone.

The only question is what happens to AQ's foreign and Iraqi fighters? The politically expedient thing to do is follow the example of Saudi Arabia, and allow them safe passage to Afghanistan/Pakistan where they can continue their fight against "the Great Satan." That is obviously not in the best interest of the United States -- and if Bush had half a brain he'd be working with Iraq's neighbors to ensure that these sunni radicals are hunted down and killed, rather than allowed to get away.

"The Bush administration is developing what are described as concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half next year, according to senior administration officials in the midst of the internal debate."

Yep, we've been down this road before. This is about the tenth time or so this line has been leaked by the administration, and then we're all told to give it another 6 months and see where we are at the end of the latest F.U.

Meanwhile, I see the wingnuts are back in full on Kurtz, "Exterminate the brutes" mode. Remind me again why we invaded?

Joe and the rest of the American press must be suffering from the same memory disorder as the DOJ. Every six months or so for the last four years the Bush Administration has floated a story in the press about lowering the number of troops 8 to 12 months from now. Every time the press reports it ignoring that they reported the same story 8 months ago and 16 months ago and 24 months ago. Eight months latter the troops are increased or stay the same and there is no follow up. How many FU's untill the troops come home and we end this bloody mess?

Joe Klein replies: Excuse me, but you really should read the entire post...
5. What to watch for: Bush's reaction to all this. My guess is he makes it plain that he's opposed to this plan very quickly.

Thanks for coming into the comment stream for clairification, Joe. I think it is very constructive.

As Congressional Members leave the protected sanctuary of their chambers to face the People, the WH, realizing that the spin has worn thin, announces a discussion of a plan to reduce troops without input from the Generals on the Ground. Another election year troop reduction similar to 04 has the stench of politically driven expediency.

Coincidentally, there has been talk that the current level of readiness of the US Military precludes the ability to sustain current troop levels beyond next spring. Concurrently, al Sadr is gaining clout while the puppet US Iraqi government appears to be in total disarray.

A side bar is the recognition of the growing Military of China, who is forging more 'global' energy deals while failing to respond to US pressure, is letting the 'market' drive its trade and economic policies.

Did anybody notice another GOP pet missile test fizzled in the Pacific? More evidence of health care failures through out the DoD-VA? Stealth signing of the Bush Bill? Cheney shaking hands with West Point Grads without looking one of them in the eye?

As Nero fiddled, Congress diddles and Bush piddles. It's a 'long slog to nowhere' as we 'stay what course'.

Can you please explain the position of Senate Democrats Carl Levin and Jack Reed (which you favor) and how feasible it might be? Please don't neglect to explain how it isn't a Democratic plan to postpone the withdrawal another Friedman Unit until it becomes the new Democratic President's responsibility to deal with?

Thanks.

Joe, I think you missed the implication of the comments by Facts Please. The question is why, 1,487 days after "the end of major hostilities" when we have "turned a corner" so many times we are dizzy and have seen quarterly announcements of impending drawdowns and withdrawals just over an horizon we never reach, why should any attention be paid to this latest PR attempt? Honestly it is about as fascinating as any other monthly report from the Department of Meaningless Statistics.

After reading my last comment I feel I should simplify my question for Joe so I am not misunderstood. So Joe, simply, why is this announcement any different or any more meaningful that the last half dozen potential troop drawdowns?

Joe Klein replies: Again, check out point 5 above--my guess is Bush is going to quash this thing. But if there is any significance, it's this: The position of Gates and Condi runs directly counter to what Petraeus says is necessary for a successful counterinsurgency campaign. This represents a really significant split in the administration. Most true surge advocates believe we're going to have to maintain the current troop levels for at least the next few years...what may be happening here is that the Bush administration is cracking over the efficacy of the surge. If so, that's significant. If this is the same old Lucy-and-the-football propaganda, it has no meaning at all.

Joe: yes, thanks very much for jumping in with responses.

Just one suggestion -- rather than responding in the person's post itself (a practice which could lend to mischief by posters responding on your behalf to their own posts), you may want to post separately under your own name, with a quote of what it is you are responding to. It's not hard to set up html commands on this site (which really ought to have been done some time ago) to facilitate this.

But thanks again for the interplay. I think everyone will benefit from it.

Joe Klein responds: Look, I just found out that I can respond within your comments....Still learning the ropes, I guess. But it seemed to me that anyone can pretend to be me in or out of your comments, and at least this way YOU or anyone else who asks a reasonable question will know it's really me responding.

Wait, you're giving this withdrawal rumour any credence? You're a used car salesman's wet dream.

Joe's number 4.

A bit simplistic of statement in a war where nothing is simple. My take on the Sunni Tribal Chiefs working with the US Troops was slightly different.

It seemed to be more a recognition by the Tribal Chiefs that they had a better chance to retain power and, yes, get weapons and training by playing ball with the US Forces. I would also look at the 'whack-a-mole' theory. Did the announced 'surge' to Baghdad and al Anbar result in a 'shift' of AQ-insurgent forces to other areas playing a major part in the change in Ramadi.

For a political guy, Joe, you miss the 'politics'. Look to Falwell, the Southern Baptists who have no 'central authority', but can unite the 'troops' with the School Prayer, Home Schooling, Anti-Abortion, Gay Bashing---you know the 'hot buttons'. Joe, do you remember how many 'parties' were on the Purple Finger Ballots?

The enemy of my enemy: We don't have the troops to hold enough ground to make the 'surge' work, we just shift the sand until the next wind blows.

And regarding Number 4:

I'm just a simple country boy, but why is flipping back and forth between two factions engaged in a civil was a "success"?

To me, it just signifies that we don't know WTF is going on, and are making reactive and poorly-thought-out alliances.

Joe: Are the Sunnis our friends, or not? If the latter, why are we arming and training them? I thought we wanted them effectively diminished in public life. We got that. Now we decided we don't want that.

Why should I have any confidence in the high level political decisions made in this ever-spiralling clusterf***?

Thanks in advance.

How is Carl Levin and Jack Reed's plan different from the "incoherent" one? As I understand it, we start withdrawal in one year, rather than sooner than that? Are there any other provisions in the plan?

Withdrawal plan?

I thought you were referring to the Clixon's first class slush funds (or her long lost Iowa campaign)...

"May 26, 2007

Suit Sheds Light on Clinton Ties to a Benefactor

By MIKE McINTIRE

When former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton took a family vacation in January 2002 to Acapulco, Mexico, one of their longtime supporters, Vinod Gupta, provided his company’s private jet to fly them there.

The company, infoUSA, one of the nation’s largest brokers of information on consumers, paid $146,866 to ferry the Clintons, Mr. Gupta and others to Acapulco and back, court records show. During the next four years, infoUSA paid Mr. Clinton more than $2 million for consulting services, and spent almost $900,000 to fly him around the world for his presidential foundation work and to fly Mrs. Clinton to campaign events.

Those expenses are cited in a lawsuit filed late last year in a Delaware court by angry shareholders of infoUSA, who assert that Mr. Gupta wasted the company’s money trying “to ingratiate himself” with his high-profile guests.

The disclosure of the trips and the consulting fees is just a small part of a broader complaint about the way Mr. Gupta has managed his company. But for the former president, and for the senator who would become president, it offers significant new details about their relationship with an unusually generous benefactor whose business practices have lately come under scrutiny.

In addition to the shareholder accusations, The New York Times reported last Sunday that an investigation by the authorities in Iowa found that infoUSA sold consumer data several years ago to telemarketing criminals who used it to steal money from elderly Americans. It advertised call lists with titles like “Elderly Opportunity Seekers” or “Suffering Seniors,” a compilation of people with cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. The company called the episodes an aberration and pledged that it would not happen again.

Asked to describe Mr. Clinton’s consulting services, an infoUSA official said they were limited to making appearances at one or two company events each year. Jay Carson, a spokesman for Mr. Clinton, would not elaborate on what the former president does for infoUSA, but said that he shared the public’s concern about misuse of personal information.

“It goes without saying that any suggestion that seniors are being preyed upon should be fully investigated and addressed by the appropriate agencies,” Mr. Carson said.

Aides to Mrs. Clinton were at pains to distance her from infoUSA, pointing out that she had sponsored legislation that would strengthen privacy rights of consumers. As for the flights on infoUSA’s plane, Phil Singer, Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman, said the senator “complied with all the relevant ethics rules” on accepting private air travel.

Ethics rules for senators and candidates require only that the recipient of a flight make reimbursement at a rate equal to that of a first-class ticket, a long-derided loophole that allows special interests to provide de facto gifts of expensive private air travel, which generally costs far more than commercial fares. Mr. Singer would not say what Mrs. Clinton paid for her flights.

InfoUSA’s troubles come at an especially awkward moment for Mrs. Clinton, since Mr. Gupta is among a loyal coterie of reliable fund-raisers whom she would be expected to turn to as she pursues the Democratic presidential nomination. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Clintons’ campaigns over the years, and has donated $1 million to Mr. Clinton’s foundation.

The Clintons’ role in the shareholder suit has been largely overlooked even as the presidential race has heated up. The Deal, a business publication, said in a February article about infoUSA that the lawsuit’s references to an unnamed “former high-ranking government official and his wife” appeared to describe Mr. and Mrs. Clinton.

Neither aides to the Clintons nor infoUSA disputed that the complaint referred to the Clintons.

An entrepreneur from India, Mr. Gupta, 60, founded infoUSA in Omaha in 1972 and built it into a publicly traded company with more than $400 million in revenue. Along the way, he nurtured a taste for politics, becoming a major Democratic fund-raiser and a Lincoln Bedroom guest in the Clinton White House.

Before leaving office, Mr. Clinton appointed Mr. Gupta to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Earlier, Mr. Clinton had nominated him for two minor ambassadorships, which Mr. Gupta declined because of business commitments.

“Vin’s done a very good job over the years finding ways to get connected,” said Stormy Dean, the chief financial officer of infoUSA and onetime candidate for governor in Nebraska, where the company is based.

“I don’t know whether he’s ever got anything out of his connections in politics,” Mr. Dean said. “But he likes it, and he’s good at it. He’s a legitimate American success story.”

Mr. Gupta declined to comment for this article.

Mr. Gupta is clearly proud of his friendship with the Clintons. He once had a personal Web site — it was taken down last year — where he posted photographs of himself socializing with them. One showed him with Mr. Clinton on a golf course, arms draped around each other and smiling; another showed Mrs. Clinton posing with the Gupta family in Aspen. Mr. Gupta even dedicated two school construction projects he financed in a rural part of his native India to the Clintons, naming one of them after him and the other after her.

After Mr. Clinton left office, Mr. Gupta was one of two businessmen with whom the former president agreed to enter into consulting arrangements (the other was Ronald W. Burkle, a billionaire investor and major Democratic donor). In 2002, Mrs. Clinton began reporting her husband’s work for infoUSA on her Senate financial disclosure forms, but she does not have to disclose his income and it is not clear what he is paid.

The shareholder lawsuit against infoUSA, brought by two Connecticut-based hedge funds, Dolphin Limited Partnership and Cardinal Capital Management, forced that information into the open. It charges that Mr. Gupta’s spending on the Clintons is part of a pattern of improper company expenditures for things like luxury cars, jets and houses, as well as a yacht that is notable for being one of the few to have an all-female crew.

Mr. Gupta has defended the expenses as legitimate and business-related, and he has accused the hedge funds of trying to wrest control of the company through a smear campaign. Mr. Gupta has moved to have the lawsuit dismissed; a decision is pending.

Representatives of Dolphin and Cardinal declined to comment. Herbert A. Denton, president of Providence Capital, a New York hedge fund that also invested in infoUSA and had pressed for management changes, said the expenditures cited in the lawsuit were hard to defend.

“When the C.E.O. of a publicly traded company can say with a straight face that the shareholders benefit from having a yacht with an all-female crew stationed in the Virgin Islands, then you’ve got a problem,” Mr. Denton said.

The lawsuit says Mr. Clinton signed a consulting agreement in April 2002 to “provide confidential advice and counsel to the chairman and C.E.O. of the company for the purpose of strategic growth and business development.” InfoUSA made $2.1 million in quarterly payments to Mr. Clinton from July 2003 to April 2005, and in October 2005 entered into a new three-year agreement to pay him $1.2 million. It also gave him an option to buy 100,000 shares of infoUSA stock, with no expiration date.

The complaint asserts that the contracts with Mr. Clinton are “extremely vague” to the point of being wasteful. It says they state that Mr. Clinton will not lobby for infoUSA, and that the company cannot use his name, likeness or association for any business purpose.

Mr. Dean said the former president’s presence at company events “adds a lot of credibility” to infoUSA in business circles. Mr. Clinton normally commands $125,000 to $300,000 for the many speeches he gives each year, and has earned almost $40 million on the lecture circuit since leaving office.

Mr. Dean said Mr. Clinton had no role in infoUSA’s data collection and distribution business, which was criticized by the authorities in Iowa who uncovered the questionable sales of call lists during an investigation of unscrupulous telemarketers in 2005. After the Times article on Sunday about that case, officials at the Federal Trade Commission indicated they were considering opening their own inquiry into infoUSA’s practices.

Mr. Dean also said that the numerous flights infoUSA provided for Mr. Clinton’s nonprofit foundation activities constituted charitable donations, for which the company was entitled to a tax deduction. The flights included trips to European capitals, Alaska, Florida, Hawaii and Mr. Clinton’s home state of Arkansas.

Mrs. Clinton’s use of infoUSA planes appears to be mostly campaign related. In one instance cited in the lawsuit, Mrs. Clinton “traveled at the company’s expense aboard a private jet from White Plains, N.Y., to Detroit, Mich., and then to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and home to White Plains, N.Y., after calling the company the previous day in desperate need of a plane.”

InfoUSA paid $18,480 in January 2004 to fly Mrs. Clinton “and her four-person entourage” to New York from New Mexico, where she had made a campaign appearance and attended a book signing. Campaign finance records show that her committee, Friends of Hillary, made a reimbursement of $2,127 for that flight. It was not clear if any other candidate committees in New Mexico also helped defray some of the cost.

Her aides said that in addition to using campaign money to pay for some of the infoUSA flights, Mrs. Clinton used personal finances to pay for parts of any flights that did not involve political activities, like the 2002 trip to Acapulco. As for why infoUSA paid anything at all for a round-trip flight to a vacation destination, Mr. Dean insisted it was a legitimate expense.

“I’m not sure what they were doing down there,” Mr. Dean said, “but it was business related.”

...........

I guess Thunder Thighs and Blozo must have missed the memo on lobbying reforms, eh?

Oh well.

HILLARY HAPPENS.

Note to leftardians...

CONTINGENCY PLANNING, ahem, IS the SOP for the DOD - and has been for DECADES.

BTW, Kinko's called.

YOUR FIRED.

Joe,

Just read your latest piece on the good news from Iraq. You ask, "How many massacres of Sunnis will the Saudis have the stomach for?" I don't think you understand how perverse that question is.

In fact, the Iraqi national security advisor has now publicly confirmed that a majority of the suicide bombers targeting Iraqi Shiites (and U.S. troops) have been Saudi nationals. And the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samara last year which ignited the current wave of violence in Iraq - guess who pulled that off?

The role the Saudis are playing in fomenting the violence in Iraq is something I've been tracking closely and have tried to document at:

www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com

You guys are missing a huge part of the story here, and I wish you would clue in before this administration invades yet another country that had nothing to do with 9/11.

A little tit:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/25/iraq.iran/index.html

with a little tat blowback:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/26/iran.espionage.ap/index.html

Scary Darth?

White House plays down report of Iraq troop cut
26 May 2007 18:12:10 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON, May 26 (Reuters) - The White House on Saturday played down a newspaper report that the Bush administration was weighing a scenario for possibly sharp cuts in U.S. troop levels in Iraq next year.

Perino said the increase was aimed at setting the very conditions that would allow U.S. troops to return home.

"We, of course, would like to be in a position to bring down troop levels, but certain conditions, as assessed by senior military advisers and commanders on the ground, need to be met to warrant that," she said in an e-mail in response to a Reuters query.

After a four-month battle with Bush, congressional Democrats this week approved $100 billion in funds for the Iraq war without the deadlines for a troop pullout they had originally sought.

That has bought Bush some time to press ahead with his Iraq strategy, despite opinion polls showing it is unpopular among the majority of Americans.

NO 'POLICY OF RETREAT'

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, in a commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday, acknowledged it was still "tough going" in Iraq but said the United States must not waver from its goal of stabilizing the country.

"The security of this nation depends on a successful outcome," he said at West Point.

Cheney has been among the most vocal voices within the administration insisting that the United States could not back a "policy of retreat" in Iraq and warning that a withdrawal would embolden militant groups such as al Qaeda.

There's more
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26217367.htm

Joe you just don't get it. My point was that the White House has floated the idea of troop withdrawls five or six times since the war started. You and the rest of the media never acknowledge that we have heard this story before. What ever else you have to say does not really matter.

Joe you just don't get it. My point was that the White House has floated the idea of troop withdrawls five or six times since the war started. You and the rest of the media never acknowledge that we have heard this story before. What ever else you have to say does not really matter.

Joe, thanks so much for responding in comments. That is a great feature, and your willingness to go back and forth is really appreciated.

Glenn Greenwald makes the same point as Facts Please-- this floating of a plan may be as hollow as... um... it always has been, when floated by military leaders, Congressmen, and the administration.

It's worth checking Greenwald out. He quotes the following sources, talking about rumors of withdrawals of troops in various numbers and timeframes. This is a cut-down version of his post:

The Hill, May 3, 2006:
The withdrawal of 20,000-40,000 U.S. troops from Iraq this fall

Newsday, December 18, 2005:
Yet the White House has signaled that it does have a timetable - all but saying that troops are likely to start pulling out of Iraq in 2006, possibly enough to cut the U.S. presence there in half, some analysts predict.

CNN, December 8, 2005:
The military may reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq after next week's parliamentary elections, but some of those troops were slated to come home earlier. Meanwhile, others who have not arrived yet may get to stay put, a Pentagon source said Thursday.

AP, April 15, 2004:
The United States has a total of about 137,000 troops in Iraq now, Rumsfeld said. That number was supposed to have dipped to 115,000 by May, but Rumsfeld said Gen. John Abizaid, the overall commander of the Iraq war, decided he needs to keep the force level at about 135,000 troops.

Reuters, November 6, 2003:
Pace also told the House of Representatives Armed Services committee that the Pentagon plans to reduce U.S. troop strength in Iraq to about 100,000 by May 2003 as new units are rotated in.

For good measure: Joe Lieberman, June 22, 2006, running for re-election:
I personally hope, as I am sure all members of the Senate do, and I believe, that we will be able to withdraw a significant number of our men and women in uniform from Iraq by the end of this year and even more by next year. . .

Joe Lieberman, Democratic primary debate with Ned Lamont, July 7, 2006:
The situation in Iraq is a lot better, different than it was a year ago. . . .So I am confident that the situation is improving enough on the ground that by the end of this year, we will begin to draw down significant numbers of American troops, and by the end of the next year more than half of the troops who are there now will be home.

1) Hearst newspapers reported early last week a "second surge" of extended and overlapping tours will push the US force level in Iraq to 200,000 by the end of '07.

2) Anonymous Bush admin sources float 'as much as a 50% decrease' of US forces in Iraq by the end of '08. For those with reading comprehension issues 'as much as a 50% decrease' means any number up to and including 50% - it could mean 5%, 30% or 50%.

3) Let's say the Bush administration says early in '08 that conditions on the ground are improving but not perfect. Still, Bush will be able to cut our forces by 30% because of the great progress made in the past year. That'll learn you skeptics!

4) Subtract 30% from 200,000 troops - the number that will be in country in December '07 - and you get 140,000 troops. 140,000 troops is the number we had in Iraq in February '07.

5) The Boston Globe reported last October: "The Army is making provisions to keep at least 140,000 troops in Iraq through 2010, senior Pentagon officials said yesterday, in a stark signal that top commanders see little prospect of reducing American force levels soon and are bracing for more violence."

In other words, stay the course.

Joe the problem is the people who have made the decisions that got us where we are now are still deciding.This is the crux of the problem.I do not know what the answer is but one thing for sure is that they do not know.
One thing for certain is that if we pull out it is highly unlikely that American service people will be dying over there.Let them have their civil war and rearrange the place to their liking then we will pop back and exploit them economically.By the way the first people to die in Iraq will be AlQaida.I do not see the shia relinquishing power to a sunni based organization.So the major stated goal of this administration to kill Al Qaida will be accomplished without a drop of American blood being spilled.

Mr. Klein,
And yet, you call Mr. Moore's activities propaganda.

thanks alot
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الوطني
البث المباشر
الجزيرة الوثائقية
قناة الاخبارية
قناة الرسالة
الجزيرة الرياضية 2
الجزيرة الرياضية 1
شوتايم
قناة عين
قناة الكاس
دبي الرياضية
صور رياضية
ريكاردو كاكا
فرانك ريبري
رافائيل ماركيز
توتي
ماركو ماتيراتزي
فرناندو توريس
فرناندو غاغو
اندريا بيرلو
فابيو كانافارو
ستيفن جيرارد
خافيير زانيتي
سيرجيو راموس
ادوين فان در سار
صامويل ايتو
ديكو
سالومون كالو
ديفيد فيلا
رود فان نستلروي
دافيد تريزيغيه
ديفيد بيكهام
رونالدينيو
كرستيانو رونالدو
سيسك فابريغاس
روبرتو كارلوس
كارلوس تيفيز
ريو فرديناند
كارلو كوديتشيني
ريكاردو كواريسما
كارلوس بويول
جينارو غاتوزو
باولو
ارين روبين
اليساندرو نيستا
باولو مالديني
اليساندرو دل بييرو
جيلاردينيو
ادريانو
مايكل أوين
سامي الجابر
مالك معاذ
سعد الحارثي
لوكا توني
محمد نور
ليونيل ميسي
ياسر القحطاني
فرانك لامبارد
اكسافي اكزافي
تييري هنري
خوان رومان ريكيلمي
توماس روسيكي
خافيير سافيولا
فيكتور فالديس
ايكر كاسياس
زين الدين زيدان
هرنان كريسبو
زالاتان ابراهيموفتش
فيديو رياضي
اهداف الاتحاد
اهداف الهلال
اهداف النصر
اهداف الاهلي
اهداف الاتفاق
اهداف الشباب
اهداف عالمية
مهارات
برنامج صدى الملاعب
منصور البلوي
صالح القرني
حمزة ادريس
محمد الشلهوب
مارسيلو تفاريس
طارق التايب
يوسف الثنيان
نواف التمياط
مهارات سعد الحارثي
ماجد عبدالله
فهد الهريفي
حسين عبدالغني
عبده عطيف
باتو
دروقبا
بالاك
تحميل يوتيوب
برامج فوتوشوب
خطوط فوتوشوب
فرش فوتوشوب
ستايلات فوتوشوب
أشكال فوتوشوب
باترون فوتوشوب
دروس فوتوشوب
خطوط فوتوشوب عربية
خطوط فوتوشوب انجليزية
العاب رياضية
العاب كرة القدم
فيفا 2008
تردد القنوات الرياضية
ثيمات رياضية
بكين 2008
الكرة السعودية
الكرة الخليجية
الكرة العربية
الكرة العالمية
الكالشيو الإيطالي
الليغا الأسباني
البريميرليغ الإنجليزي
السيارات
PlayStation
منتدى البلاي ستيشن
X Box منتدى اكس بوكس
الجزيرة الرياضية
art الرياضية
الكمبيوتر والاتصالات
سنوات الضياع
محمد الدعيع
العربي الكويتي
الاهلي الاماراتي
الريان القطري
كاس العالم 2010
الاهلي المصري
حسنى عبدربه
الكرامة السوري
ليون الفرنسي
الانتقالات الصيفية
بلاتر
الدوري الالماني
الدوري الاسباني
مورينهو
الروسونيري
سكولاري
اخبار الليغا الأسبانية
صور برشلونة
راؤؤل
الدوري الانجليزي
صور مشاهير
اهداف زيدان
الزمالك المصري
مواقع السيارات
اسعار السيارات
صور سيارات
الهلال السوداني
نادي جالكسي
الدوري السعودي
كاظمة الكويتي
اسرار البلاستيشن
الماسترليغ
اسرار حرامي السيارات
طريقة تشغيل الايف اكس بوكس
مشاكل الاكس بوكس
اسرار شريط قراند
لعبة فيفا
برنامج مشاهدة القنوات
موقع الجزيرة الرياضية
افلام سكس
حصن المسلم
نسب النبي
المحقق كونان
برامج الجيل الثالث
مشاري العفاسي
احمد العجمي
نك نيمات

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برامج
برامج دينية
برامج الكمبيوتر
برامج الانترنت
برامج التصفح
برامج التحميل
برامج الحماية
برامج الملتميديا
برامج التحويل
برامج نوكيا
ثيمات نوكيا
العاب نوكيا
برامج الصور والتصميم
ماسنجر 8
يوتيوب
العاب فلاش
العاب بنات
العاب ذكاء
العاب اكشن
العاب اطفال
العاب التشويق
العاب سيارات
العاب رياضية
العاب ورق
العاب عربية
العاب حربية
العاب منوعة
العاب تلبيس
العاب باربي
العاب ترتيب الغرف
العاب طبخ
توبيكات
توبيكات اسلامية
توبيكات مضحكة
توبيكات انجليزية
توبيكات حزينة
توبيكات اغاني
توبيكات رومانسية
توبيكات شعر
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فيديو يوتيوب
مسلسلات

شات شات خوخ
منتديات خوخ
دردشة
صور
العاب 
برامج بلوتوث
صور حب
صور بنات
صور رومانسيه
رسائل جوال رسائل حلوه
رسائل عتاب رسائل حزن
رسائل الطب
طبيب
التداوي 
بالاعشاب , قصص
قصص حلوه
قصص اطفال الطب  البديل , الاعشاب الطب النبوي
, العسل 
البصل ,  الثوم
صور مضحكة صور غريبه
برامج جوال برامج فيديو
برامج كمبيوتر
برامج تصفح
برامج البريد الالكتروني
برامج المحادثات
برامج حماية
برامج 2009
برنامج  توبيكات
 توبيكات ماسنجر
 توبيكات جديدة
 توبيكات حلوة
 توبيكات جنان
الفوتوشوب 
ثيمات جديدة
العاب جوال
 برامج الجوال
ثيمات نوكيا 
العاب نوكيا
 العاب للجوال
 رسائل حب  رسائل مجانية
رسائل رومانسية رسائل الحب
رسائل  جوال 
بلوتوث رقص 
بلوتوث فضائح
مقاطع  فيديو برامج نوكيا 
برامج سيمنز 
 برامج جوال نوكيا 
برامج اريكسون 
نكت 
رسائل غراميه 
 رسايل 
نغمات   d,jd,f
 يوتيوب خوخ 
 افلام
 العاب
    تفحيط
بلوتوث   رمضانيات   
الوصفات
أطباق رئيسية
أطباق جانبية
أطباق المقبلات
أطباق الصغار
عصائر ومشروبات
حلويات
 مطبخ
عروض الالعاب   مضحك
الكاميرا الخفية   كوميديا  فرفشة
 دول  قصص  حواء
 بنت  حصري
 الجن  مرعبة
 مكتبة
الزرقاوي   المجاهدين   
ممثلات   مصارعه  دروس
 عجائب
 إسلاميات  صوتيات 
 
 فيديوهات   اهداف
 
 Arabic  Music
 دعايات
 
 كرتونيات   رياضة 
 مقاطع
الشيعه  توم
وجيري  لقطات
كليبات للجوال   خاصه
استار اكادمي  
 معلايه    
لقطه  فلم   هز  
 الشرقي  صور   
عبادي الجوهر  
 سيارات  
 العسكري  
 اناشيد  
 video clip  صوت   song   music 
 كرة  
 الدوري الاسباني   
youtube  
 فيديو يوتيوب   
Arabic Songs  
Arabic Films  
Download Arabic Movies  
Star Academy  بطولة 
 كأس  
 العربية  
الأوروبية   السعودية   
المصرية  
الايطالية   
الانجليزية   
الاسبانية   
العراب  
كليب عربى  
كليب لبناني   
كليب مصرى  
كليب مضحك  
 كليب هندي   مضحكه
 ولادة
 
 مقاطع فيديو رقص  
 مقاطع فيديو مضحكه  
 ملفات فيديو   
مواقع فيديو كليب  عرب
مكس  حوادث 
 رسوم 
 زواج 
 زيدان 
 سميح 
 عرب  قتل  قدم
  كلبات 
 اجنبى 
  اسلامي  رقص   
شاكيرا  عراقي
 مجاني 
  مشاهدة  مواقع 
 موقع
أفلام فيديو   أناشيد 
 احدث
بحث فيديو  شاعر
 
 الجوال  عذيب
 بنات 
 جديد  دينا 
 عربي
 عربى
 
رتون 
 كلب  
 كليب اجنبي   
مقطع فيديو   
أغاني فيديو   أغاني 
  اغانى فيديو   اغانى فيديو كليب
  
اناشيد فيديو   صورفيديو   اجنبي
 
 Arab Girls  اعلانات
 
حيوانات  
حوادث  
رونالدينهو   Funny
 Commercials   
ports  
Animals  Movies
 Pictures   Games
 Cars   Hidden Camera  
Cartoon Videos  
كوميديا مصرية   
عرض ازياء  
افلام رومانسية   
افلام اجنبية  
 افلام عربية   بريك   
Prison  
Islamic  أدعية
 مواعظ
 
Music Videos  YouTube
Videos   
Metacafe Videos  
Bollywood  
Chinese Music Videos  
Other Videos  
Music Posters  Music Lyrics  
Ringtones  
Send A Love Song  
Music Forums  
Submit Video  المدبلج
  مسلسل  
 كاميرا  
الجزيرة  Animal
 Photoshop  Nokia
 Football  
Real Madrid  BMW  
 Nissan  Ford
 Honda
 hina
 korea
  France    Spain
  Japon طبخ
ازياء
بلايز  تسريحات
راقيه 
فساتين سهرة بالتفاصيل  وصفات شهية
  India  
N95  
 Kooora  Tube
 jokes
    comedy  
MySpace  
Facebook  
Madona  jojo
 الهلال
 Nancy
 اغنيه
 
 البالتوك   
ترافيان  travian
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