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….aaaaaaand we’re back at square one.
Bush to order 8,000 troops out of Iraq
President George W. Bush will cut U.S. force levels in Iraq only modestly over the rest of his term, pulling 8,000 troops out by February, when his successor will have taken over as commander in chief.
Bush, an unpopular president managing an unpopular war, will say on Tuesday that a dramatic drop in violence in Iraq allows the Pentagon to bring troops home and shift more forces to Afghanistan, where attacks by Islamist militants have soared over two years.
“While the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, we have seized the offensive, and Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of leading and winning the fight,” Bush plans to say at the National Defence University, according to his prepared remarks released on Monday by the White House.
“And if the progress in Iraq continues to hold, Gen. (David) Petraeus and our military leaders believe additional reductions will be possible in the first half of 2009.”
A cut of 8,000 would leave 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq — still more than before Bush ordered a “surge” of extra forces in 2007 and also more than in November 2006, when his Republicans lost mid-term congressional elections largely due to voter anger over the war.
Dear President McCain or President Obama: Read up on Afghanistan. You’re gonna need it.
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