Bush plans to cut troops by 30K. Effect on the race?

[Ridiculous]

CNN Reports:
-- President Bush will announce this week plans to cut U.S. troops in Iraq by about 30,000 -- to pre-'surge' levels -- by next summer, a senior administration official confirms to CNN.


What effect do you think this will have on Ron Paul and the rest of the race?

[ghemminger]

The question will be - How can they insitute a partial draft to lead into a larger draft - to cycle in new blood into this war - anyone who knows anyone in the military - know that it will be impossible to maintain even smaller troop levels.....

[njandrewg]

Ron Paul will continue saying what he's been syaing for a while.
Republicans will claim success, "See the surge worked...we don't need as many troops there any more..SUCCESS!"

[Shiranu]

1st... Every time we say "We are taking x out of Iraq", we put Y back in, and in this case, we may take x = 30000 out, but we will put y = 60000 in. Simple observation though, so it MIGHT not happen.
2nd... alot can happen over the rest of this time, and if there is any way they can start scaring us into beliving sending more people over there is a good idea, they will.
3rd... its Bush for god's sake, do you belive any thing coming out of his mouth is going to be true?

[nullvalu]

None. The primaries will be over before this alleged troop reduction even occurs. Next summer is 10-12 months away!

[ctb619]

Little to none......we'll still have 130,000 in Iraq

[barcop]

By next summer if Bush has his way will be in a war with Iran.... so I see it as just a stall tactic. Be moderate and give the people some hope. More neo-con garbage.

[aghman]

I doubt it will have much effect on the race. There are still 130,000 of our troops over there.
People are still dying (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/331161_drew11.html?source=rss).

[Shiranu]

:( That story ist sad.

[MsDoodahs]

By next summer if Bush has his way will be in a war with Iran.... so I see it as just a stall tactic. Be moderate and give the people some hope. More neo-con garbage.

We have a winner.

It does show that the neoidgits know the public is totally against them en masse now, though.

No one (other than neoidgits) will be fooled by the stall tactic.

[im_a_pepper]

The Surge worked! Now we can reduce our fatigued troops to a number that is still higher than before the Surge.

I read an article stating that Bush has no choice but to withdraw some troops no matter what to shuffle them about and this coincides to when the first set of Surge tours finish essentially giving them no choice. Petraeus even stated that the withdraw of troops takes into consideration greatly (since he was a military physician that dealt with GI fatigue) the fatigue and wear of our troops as well as current progress.
Pretty slick to mash em all together to make it sound like progress and compromise!

[RP4ME]

What is the total number of troops that we have? And how many are actually here in teh US?

Also Susan Sarandon must not have heard of RP - she was on the view today and said she would not support hillary b/c of her war rhetoric and liked Edwards and wa sgonna wait and see on Obama. She needs intervetntion - and one buddies with her friends?

[fletcher]

I don't think it will change anything on the Republican side, but it could help get some Democrats on Ron's side. They're going to pissed that the Democrats in Congress are just going to go along with this. They have completely failed at what they were elected to do, and have the power to do.

[fletcher]

What is the total number of troops that we have? And how many are actually here in teh US?

Also Susan Sarandon must not have heard of RP - she was on the view today and said she would not support hillary b/c of her war rhetoric and liked Edwards and wa sgonna wait and see on Obama. She needs intervetntion - and one buddies with her friends?

Susan Saradon is an idiot. I would be embarrassed if she supported Ron Paul. Thankfully, she would will only support big government, big spending liberals.

[Paulio]

Good Dr. has said it best: "Tactical movements and shifting troops around and taking in the 30 more and reducing by five -- totally irrelevant."

[Kregener]

9/11 has about worn off.

We are surely due for another..."incident", are we not? That should get the blood-n-veins-in-my-teeth crowd roaring for raghead slaughter again...

[jpa]

He was forced to reduce the troops in combat by 30k by next April, or else they would have to
1) increase rotations to 18 months
2) call up national guard / reserves
3) institute a draft


He didn't decide shit. He is forced to reduce troops to this level

[MsDoodahs]

Yeah, I saw a CNN poll today and a full half of the respondents said it is time to stop doing all the hyped up memorials on 9/11.

[DjLoTi]

Yeah, 9/11 was 6 years ago, and now instead of remembering it just pisses me off what has happened with our government and our country since the attack.

The terrorists did a great job screwing Americans over; unfortunately, the Americans screwed themselves.

[Bossobass]

Actually, no one seems to address the fact that we really have close to 300,000 troops in Iraq, including the Blackwater mercenaries.

The troop surge is a farce. We built 14 huge, permanent military bases in Iraq. We ain't ever leavin' there, unless Ron Paul is POTUS...PERIOD.

Study McNamara's and General Westmoreland's "Fact-Finding Missions" reports to LBJ. Troop surge, body count, projections, blah, blah, blah. All Bullshit.

76% wanted us out of VietNam and we remained there for another decade. We lost. We died for nothing. We have yet to pay the debt that piled up for that 'police action'.

The US controls the bombing, the battles, the rebuilding effort, the flow of oil, the flow of money...evrything. They can get you any result you want in any given 6 month period...period.

Bosso

[RP4ME]

Biden just slammed Bush on the troop reduction. He started crying. Is thsi a joke - if these Dems are so choked up DO SOMETHING! They are pansies! Are they complicit - are the just good actors or what - its not that difficult - they know what to do to stop thsi madness and they dont! :mad:

[MsDoodahs]

Like we said, FLAT OUT LIARS.

And excellent actors.

Stop expecting them to do the things they promise.

They never have and they never will.

[RevolutionSD]

Of course this is a stall tactic just like the last 6 stall tactics!

The military-industrial complex NEEDS war! The war will continue, the war is going VERY WELL, not poorly- it is unwinnable and we are stuck there for now at least another year.

Ron Paul would end the war TODAY and bring the troops home.

Buck Fush!

[Johnnybags]

He was forced to reduce the troops in combat by 30k by next April, or else they would have to
1) increase rotations to 18 months
2) call up national guard / reserves
3) institute a draft


He didn't decide shit. He is forced to reduce troops to this level


The troops had to come home then anyway but hey lets get some political points. In other words even if 700 car bombs a day went off they were headed home. Bush is a piece of work.

[JMann]

Joe Biden is a racist

[shadowhooch]

Y'know, Ron Paul should maybe try a slightly new approach to his response on the Iraq War. Currently, he's simply saying "just come home." But that sometimes doesn't resonate well with the typical republican.

Maybe instead he should focus his response to what he will do as President when he gets elected. The EARLIEST Ron Paul could do something is January 2009.

He could modify his statement with, "if you elect me President and we STILL have troops in Iraq in January 2009, I will make it my first order of business to bring them home immediately. No ifs, ands, or maybes about it. As President, I will seek non-intervention and not jump to wars unless it is the consent of the Congress. I am the only one up here that warned Congress and the President of unintended consequences with this war before it began."

Who could argue with that?

[bcmiller]

I believe this will have a profound positive effect for Ron Paul in this race.

However, I am possibly a little optimistic after meeting Dr. Paul today.

Here is what I see happening.

We may be going back to the level of troops that lost the Republican congress. That is getting spun as a success. Gen. Patraeus said two things... that he may reduce the surge next summer AND that we will be in Iraq for the next few decades to ensure the peace.

The democratic congress will use this to declare victory because they do not want to face the blame for losing the Iraq war because they wanted to leave. The democratic anti-war base cannot settle for this solution. Where can they go? Kucinich is also someone who wants to "redeploy" so that leaves the one candidate that is truly calling for an end to interventionism and all undeclared military actions.

If the War is the major issue, which it should be, Ron Paul represents the monopoly anti-war candidate.