Sessions: Time to draw down troops is coming

[maddezmom]

Source: The Hill

May 27, 2007
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a loyal supporter of President Bush, indicated Sunday that Republicans will be ready by September to look at bipartisan efforts to draw down the troops that were part of the surge to help secure Baghdad.

“We have to be realistic,” Sessions said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “We have to know that we can’t achieve everything we’d like to achieve. We have a limited number of men and women we can send to Iraq, and we can’t overburden them.”

The senator added that, when General David Petraeus is reporting back on the progress of the surge in September, “I think most of the people in Congress believe, unless something extraordinary occurs, that we should be on a move to draw those surge numbers down.”

Sessions is advocating that the Iraqi government step up its efforts to defend their own country so that the U.S. military can move from a combat role to a support and training role.




Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/sessions-time-to-draw-down-troops-is-coming-2007-05-27.html

[hippiechick]

1. ... it seems like fall 07 has long been a pre-determined date ...

... the rumble is getting louder and louder from across the aisle that Aug/Sept will be 'it'.


Wonder how long they've been chewing on their 'plan', and what's behind it?


:shrug:

[Demeter]

9. Didn't Want to Mess Up the Summer Vacation Schedule

and this way, they can fight over Iraq all fall, instead of dealing with the budget and the massive public debts.

[MilesColtrane]

12. In Jeff Sessions' case what's behind it is...

...his bid for reelection to the Senate in '08.

[youngdem]

2. And by that he means 'election time'.

Our kids are but props to pro-war politicians.

[fasttense]

3. These stupid repukes got us into this mess and their only solution

to this horrible, useless occupation of Iraq is wait until September. Where have I heard that before? September will come and go and we will still be in Iraq.

[TwilightGardener]

4. I smell a big ugly GOPer strategy brewing here...

[MuseRider]

8. No shit.

You could see this coming. GOP gets us into this mess and we scream and yell about it. We elect Dems to get us out and they get chicken and support it. So now that we have bought our share of the war Bush** and the GOP will draw down and get the credit for getting us out of this nasty war that the Dems supported. Could see that coming a mile away.

[TwilightGardener]

10. Yup. You got it.

[sandnsea]

16. Well not exactly

Dems ranted and raved and threatened to pull funding and leave Bush with a bunch of troops in the middle of a slaughter. They pushed and pushed and gave the country a voice to end this war. They agreed to give Bush until September to either make the surge work or start withdrawing troops. And now the Republicans will take credit for it and the stupid fucking left will believe the Republicans.

[Toots]

11. Well Duhhh.

Increase troop strength to over two hundred thousand and then "draw down" troop levels to about 125,000 and they can say they reduced levels by 40%...Hip hip hoorah. Still be over three Americans a day dieing though..and no counts at all of Iraqi deaths and injuries and loss of homes...

[MissWaverly]

5. we have to be realistic

We will finally have to listen to the American people who do not want this illegal occupation and neglect our oil donors if
we want to keep our seats.

[Neecy]

6. note he's only talking about drawing down the 'surge numbers'

He says nothing about the pre-surge figures.

[TwilightGardener]

7. True that--the war machine rumbles ever onward.

[sandnsea]

17. They do that all the time

And Feingold or Kerry or Dodd, or someone, will try to get people to support substantive draw-down legislation - but because it isn't 100% it won't get support of the peace activists and consequently won't go anywhere. But the people will hear ramblings of draw-down and think progress is being made. And we'll stay stuck in Iraq for another year.

[AlinPA]

13. The republican slime like him called it "cutting and running" a short time ago.

[TwilightGardener]

14. I guess that makes Sessions a Cut-and-Run Coward who hates the Troops and America.

[brg5001]

20. Yes, he's surrendering -- obviously a closet LIBBERRRRAL who hates the troops

Why that Jeff Sessions! I knew he was no good. He's setting a surrender date which emboldens our enemies and puts America at risk. He's obviously joined the Murthas and other LIBBBBBBERALLLLLS who love al-Quaeda and despise our freedoms. I say we fight on in the battle against this vicious windmill!

:sarcasm:

[nealmhughes]

15. Yes, I heard him prancing and mincing this morning. The distaste in my mouth for Jeffie is

overwhelming. What an idiot. An absolute moron. An embarassment to the Senate and Alabama, and one must try very hard to be either of those, since the idiot bar is set so low.

Good Lord, send him back to Mobile fulltime and let a real senator take his seat! I honestly think Susan Parker can beat him should she run in 08, or Jim Folsom. Hell, Charles Barkley. Anyone with a real (D) behind their names.

[AlinPA]

21. Can a Democrat win in AL? Sessions seems like a permanent fixture there.

[spanone]

18. ...and the time will come when it is most politiacally beneficial to the right wing

[Kolesar]

19. Didn't Chief of Staff Andy Card say: "You don't roll out a new product in August"?...eom

[AX10]

22. Of course, they will pull the troops out next year right before the election.

That's what it is all about. The GOP (including this Confederate Kook) want to try to take the credit for ending the unneeded war that they started.

[harun]

24. They will draw down a few, but only the surge troops

This will make it look they started the draw down if a Dem president finally pulls them out of there. If it works well they will take credit for it, if it fails miserably they will say they never started the pullout and blame the Dem. However, if a Repuke can become president then they will just keep the occupation going and have plenty of troops there to do it. As long as there is a Republican president we will not leave, period.

All of this is just delay tactics. Remember the Iraq study group? They actually came up with good recommendations and the WH did not do one thing they told them to. It was all just to delay things until after the election. Didn't help the election much since nearly every Repuke lost. I look forward to the next election where the same will happen. The purge is upon us, and the purge is good.

[Rydz777]

23. "draw those Surge numbers down" is just another fraud, another

ploy to continue the bleeding until Bush leaves office. The deaths will mount through the summer, and the word games will wear thinner and thinner. OUT NOW.

[mourningdove92]

25. September, huh?

--"HOW CAN YOU ASK SOMEONE TO BE THE LAST MAN TO DIE FOR A MISTAKE?",

[cliss]

26. As the bamboozled man stood and

watched, the man shuffled the cups quickly and made the money disappear.

The Repugs are less sophisticated than they think, and they fool fewer people than they believe. It's a little harder to make 35,000 US troops disappear.

Also, it's the eternal goal posts, that forever get pushed back.

They're just stalling for time, because they don't know what to do.

[Javaman]

27. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop...

What's going to happen that will require the need for the troops.

Since day one moron* has been using the soldiers for one reason or another to gain a foot hold on his* big dick legacy.

Where will they go next?