Troops are not leaving Iraq

[Andy62]

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/ scroll down

[Andy62]

Just incase article is lost in update:

December 4th, 2008
Gates sees long-term Iraq presence
Posted: 06:10 PM ET
By Jamie McIntyre
CNN Senior Pentagon Correspondent
WASHINGTON (CNN) — In an article in the current issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Defense Secretary Robert gates outlines his vision for fixing the Pentagon, and warns much depends on how the United States deals with the two wars it’s fighting now.

“To be blunt,” he says, “to fail — or to be seen to fail — in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a disastrous blow to U.S. credibility.”

The number of U.S. combat units in Iraq was going to decline “no matter who was elected president,” he says, but some number of American troops will remain in Iraq “for years to come.”

He calls Afghanistan “an even more complex and difficult long-term challenge” and warns it “will require a significant U.S. military and economic commitment for some time.”

[Andy62]

My theory is that the war on terrorism is world wide and and is increasing based on recent incidents. There will be shifts here and there,but the overall effects will be an increase. With the mature economies of the world weakened now is the perfect time to attack. I also believe that Obama has retained Presidents Bushs' defense team after he saw the classified reports which were not available to him prior to his election.

[Andy62]

The game is the same. Just moving players to different positions on the chess board. Troop levels to be steady in Iraq through next year.




http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2008/12/11/gates-combat-brigades-afghanistan-summer/

[Andy62]

Colon Powell in a Sunday interview on CNN stated that Afghanistan will be a much more difficult war to win than Iraq. He said that 20,000 troops may not be enough and infact 40,000 troops may not be enough.