so he can make a big propagandistic show in May of '08 that the mission *really IS accomplished now*....
...so he will bring home some of the troops one year from now, while leaving in place exactly how many he needs to protect the new OIL PRODUCTION SHARING AGREEMENTS that Congress just sneaked through in their capitulation to him, not to mention the 14 new military bases and the Vatican-city sized American Embassy due for completion any time now.....
So, really, he's just shifting troop numbers around, just to make it appear next spring of an election year, that he is a *he-man* prancing around in some new sequined costume,who has just *brought his troops home*?
So this leak may actually be true, and * is madder than a wet Connecticut chicken that his little plan isn't so double-super-top-secret any more? Anybody else think so?
No matter how cynical I become, I can't keep up.
White House Is Said to Debate ’08 Cut in Iraq Troops by 50%By DAVID E. SANGER and DAVID S. CLOUD
May 26, 2007
WASHINGTON, May 25 — The Bush administration is developing what are described as concepts for reducing American combat forces in Iraq by as much as half next year, according to senior administration officials in the midst of the internal debate.
It is the first indication that growing political pressure is forcing the White House to turn its attention to what happens after the current troop increase runs its course.
.....
Those generals and other commanders have made it clear that they are operating on a significantly slower clock than officials in Washington, who are eager for significant withdrawals before the president leaves office in January 2009.
.....
Kristol: President Was 'Furious' About Leak to 'NYT' on 2008 Iraq Pullout Editor and PublisherMay 27, 2007
Ever since The New York Times on Friday reported that the Bush administration was developing plans for withdrawing 100,000 troops from Iraq next year, the White House has been trying to throw cold water on the idea, while some pundits also question the credibility of such a report.
Today, on Fox News, William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and a hawk on the war from the start, declared, "I think the leak to the New York Times Saturday was a leak by one faction in the administration....The president apparently was furious about the New York Times article Saturday. One senior White House official went out of his way to call me Saturday and left me a voicemail saying that.
"So, since they don’t normally do that on Saturdays, I think maybe it’s even true."
(Not that I've ever agreed with Bill Kristol... but this is too reminiscent of how Bush operates.)
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