Growing resistance from US military leaders on staying the course in Iraq

[babylonsister]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/20227.html

New military leaders question Iraq mission
By Nancy A. Youssef and Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Thursday, October 4, 2007



WASHINGTON — Four and a half years after the nation's top military leaders saluted and fell in behind President Bush's pre-emptive invasion of Iraq, their replacements are beginning to question the mission and sound alarms about the toll the war is taking on the Army and the Marine Corps.

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Although Democrats in Congress have been powerless to halt or even slow the war, six developments have combined to produce growing resistance, even within some parts of Bush's own administration, to the president's unrelenting emphasis on staying the course in Iraq:

1. The Democratic takeover of the Senate and the House of Representatives last January.

2. Bush's choice of Gates to replace Rumsfeld, one of the main architects of the war. Gates was a member of the independent bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which called for the United States to reach out to Syria and Iran and "strongly urged" a drawdown in Iraq.

3. A shift, completed this week, in the military's top uniformed leadership from administration loyalists to officers who are more concerned about the growing strains on the military.

4. Mounting evidence, in a variety of official reports in recent weeks, that Iraqi forces won't be prepared to take over from American troops in significant numbers until late next year at the earliest, and that Iraqis have made little progress toward political reconciliation.

"Barring that, no amount of troops and no amount of time will make much of a difference," Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

5. Mounting evidence, most recently in a United Nations report, that the war against al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan is faltering, in part because Iraq is tying down so many U.S. troops.

More forces are needed in Afghanistan, and "we can't send them because we're bogged down" in an "intractable civil war" in Iraq, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said Wednesday.

6. Bush's low approval ratings and popular discontent with the Iraq war, which have prompted some legislators to reconsider their support for the president's policy as next year's elections approach.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/20227.html

[Grandrose]

1. K&R

:kick:

[NCarolinawoman]

2. Thanks for posting this.

Very informative. :kick:

[tom_paine]

3. Wow, if THESE GUYS, the ones left after six years of Bushie Purges, are saying this

it is unimaginably bad.

The truly honest and honrble generals are long gone. Cashier or purged or forced out. Also, a study conducted on the suicides and "accidental deaths" of generals would be a worthwhile study in a "connect-the-dots" sort of way. I have no idea if anything would be found, but it bears looking at.

[Quantess]

4. kick at noon