Reply #7: This is a pretty slippery "plan" [View All]

[bluestateguy]

There's all kinds of loopholes and escape hatches for them here:

WASHINGTON (June 24) - The top American commander in Iraq has drafted a plan that projects sharp reductions in the United States military presence there by the end of 2007, with the first cuts coming this September, American officials say.

A projection is just that, a contingent plan. In 2004 the Pentagon drafted a plan that would reduce US forces in Iraq to 110,000 by the end of the year. Still waiting for that one.

American officials emphasized that any withdrawals would depend on continued progress, including the development of competent Iraqi security forces, a reduction in Sunni Arab hostility toward the new Iraqi government and the assumption that the insurgency will not expand beyond Iraq's six central provinces.

Guess who gets to interpret what these flexible, spongy phases mean? Certainly not us. Bush! The decider!

Estimating the number of American troops that may be deployed in Iraq at the end of 2007 is difficult, one officer said. A reduction of eight combat brigades would equal about 28,000 troops. But that does not mean that the reduction in the remainder of the force would be proportional: troops would still be needed to help with logistics, intelligence, training and air strikes.

So more troops could still be sent right back in. And more troops could be sent in who are not (on paper, anyway) "combat troops".

Mr. Rumsfeld told reporters on Thursday that no final decisions would come on troop withdrawals until General Casey consulted with the new Iraqi government.

That "sovereign" Iraqi government. :eyes:

The administration has repeatedly said that American troops will begin to stand down as Iraqi forces stand up and begin to assert control. Although the planning for 2006 is advanced, officials say the projected withdrawals for 2007 are more of a forecast of what may be possible given current trends than a hard timeline.

In other words, we can scrap the whole thing at a moments notice, for any reason we want. This statement might as well be a yellow "Slippery When Wet" sign.