The Bush regime's Tet offensives in Iraq failed to create any 'victory'

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for them to bug-out without looking like they were retreating, cutting and running.

Now they're in over their heads. The officers in charge of training Iraqi soldiers say that they don't see any 'significant' troop reduction this year, says it could take years:


US Trainer Does Not See Troop Reduction in Iraq This Year

Pentagon
01 August 2006

Pessin report (Real Audio) - Download 480k audio clip
http://128.11.143.113/mediaassets/english/2006_08/Audio/rm/pessin_US_Troops_Iraq_01aug06.rm

Listen to Pessin report (Real Audio) audio clip
http://128.11.143.113/english/figleaf/ramfilegenerate.cfm?filepath=http%3A%2F%2F128%2E11%2E143%2E113%2Fmediaassets%2Fenglish%2F2006%5F08%2FAudio%2Frm%2Fpessin%5FUS%5FTroops%5FIraq%5F01aug06%2Erm

A senior U.S. military officer directly involved in training Iraq's army says in spite of notable progress it will likely take years before the new security forces can control the country on their own, and he does not foresee any significant reduction in U.S. forces in the country this year, as the top U.S. general in Iraq had hoped. The officer spoke in a telephone interview from western Iraq with VOA Pentagon Correspondent Al Pessin.

"Well, in my opinion, this is a long term, long term problem, long term, long term issues," he said.

Colonel Ayala reports that the number of attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces in his area is up slightly in recent months, even though he says the Iraqi troops are making good progress learning both the military skills and the community relations skills he is teaching.

"I would couch it in years. I cannot speculate," he said. "There are 10 divisions here. I am the senior advisor for one of them. We are in al-Anbar , which is the most restive area, besides Baghdad. Certain parts of the country, I think, are going to be better before others."

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-08-01-voa66.cfm



I don't think that's going to sit well with the public, no matter how much unrest there is abroad. Yesterday our Democratic Leaders reiterated their call for redeployment of the US troops in Iraq by the end of the year. (http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=70020)

The republican response was the predictable 'cut and run' defense. (http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=70060)

Military families are fed up with these soldier's lives being sacrificed to prove some inane political point:



172nd Stryker Brigade Tour of Duty in Iraq Extended; Family Members Speak Out Against the War

WASHINGTON, July 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade were returning home, and Jennifer Davis, a member of Military Families Speak Out from Anchorage, Alaska, was preparing for her husband's homecoming. He had served almost one year in Iraq. She just received a call she never expected. "My husband called to let me know in the best way that he knew how, that the Army was extending his deployment four more months, mere hours before he was to board a flight home," said Ms. Davis. "I am totally frustrated, disappointed and heartbroken. Just when I thought we were going to be able to resume a 'normal' life. Just when I thought the nightmare was over, it was extended... This war should never have started, and now I'm left wondering if it will ever end. My husband and all of the troops should be brought home now."

Kathy Knowles, a member of Military Families Speak Out from Shorewood, Illinois was preparing to celebrate her son's 25th birthday next week with him after his deployment in Iraq with the 172nd Stryker Brigade - and she too received the call that he would not be coming home. "I am devastated - I was so excited that he was returning to our soil and we could celebrate the victory that he had survived the hell of this war," said Ms. Knowles. "The president and Congress have truly let us down - returning my son and so many others to combat in a war that should never have happened."

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=69979



If the Bush regime's intention was to make our country more secure they've failed miserably. With their extended deployments, they've stretched our forces to the breaking point:



Reid: Democratic Defense Experts Charge Administration With Degrading Army Readiness to Levels Not Seen Since Vietnam Era

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Democratic Senators Jack Reed and Christopher Dodd today joined to release a troubling letter from the National Security Advisory Group, a group of defense and national security experts chaired by former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, sounding the alarm over failed Bush Administration policies that have strained the Army and Marine Corps' budgets. The Defense experts sent the letter to the Democratic Leaders of the House and Senate, charging the Bush Administration with underfunding the Army and "a serious failure of civilian stewardship of the military."

The Group stated that two-thirds of the Army's operating force, active and reserve, is now reporting in as unready, and that there is not a single non-deployed Army Brigade Combat Team in the United States that is ready to deploy. The Group said "the bottom line is that our Army currently has no ready, strategic reserve. Not since the Vietnam era and its aftermath has the Army's readiness been so degraded."

The experts said "the administration's willingness to put our nation at such strategic risk is deeply disturbing" and recommended that Congress exercise its oversight responsibilities more effectively and increase funding to restore the Army's readiness to the necessary levels, beginning with amendment to the fiscal year 2007 defense appropriations bill soon to be debated on the floor of the Senate.

Speaking of these disturbing revelations, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said: "President Bush ran for president by criticizing the state of Army readiness, promising that 'help is on the way'. Six years later, the Bush Administration has created a readiness crisis far worse than anything we have seen since the Vietnam era.



Mission Accomplished

[Monkeyman]

1. Now all you need to see a Iraqi blowen a captured enemy away

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3. I think the continued violence just deepens the determination of Americans

to end the occupation and bring the troops home.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. That's because with your LIEbrul bias, you define "victory" as "success".

All you have to do is redefine it as "quagmire" or "worse than when we went in", and voila - we have victory!!

Fuckin' liberals and your dictionaries and book learnin'.

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4. Olberman report coming up on the officers' report about Iraq