How many troops are we prepared to send to die for ..."a POLITICAL decision....not a military one "?

[Faryn Balyncd]

Administration Official: __ Troop Escalation _"More Of A Political Decision Than A Military One"

Just weeks ago, CentCom commander Gen. John Abizaid told Congress “I met with every divisional commander, General Casey, the corps commander, General Dempsey, we all talked together. And I said, in your professional opinion, if we were to bring in more American Troops now, does it add considerably to our ability to achieve success in Iraq? And they all said no."

Now Jim Miklaszewski reports that the new strategy will be announced next Tuesday, and that an administration official “admitted to us today that this surge option is more of a political decision than a military one.”



Watch the NBC VIDEO at Think Progress.

Transcript:

WILLIAMS: First, NBC News pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski has learned that President Bush is prepared to announce a strategy of surge and accelerate in Iraq, which would involve some 20,000 additional American troops being sent to Iraq. Jim is with us from the Pentagon with more on this tonight. Jim. Good evening.

MIKLASZEWSKI: Good evening, Brian. Administration officials told us today that President Bush has now all but decided to surge those additional troops into Baghdad to try to control over the violence there and only then could they accelerate the turnover of territory to Iraqi security forces. Fact is they’re not up to the task yet. The plan would also throw more U.S. money at Iraq for reconstruction and a jobs program. Interestingly enough, one administration official admitted to us today that this surge option is more of a political decision than a military one because the American people have run out of patience and President Bush is running out of time to achieve some kind of success in Iraq. While this plan will clearly draw some stiff opposition on Capitol Hill, the president is expected to announce it a week from today.

Will a Democratic Congress allow the Bush Administration to sacrifice American soldiers for purely political purposes, when our generals say such actions will not be militarily helpful?



More specifically, who will be the last to die for such a cause?

[babylonsister]

1. Or for someone's EGO? nt

[leftofthedial]

2. well, according to the repukes

and way too many Senate Dems,

as many as the insurgents can kill between now and January of 2009 at the earliest.

[midnight]

3. This has got to stop.....

Bring them home.