Generals Differ on the Timing of Troop Cuts

Don't ya just love the media? I mean they are a fount of knowledge and information. Except when they may not be.

Do the Joint Chiefs of Staff want to reduce troop levels in Iraq? Who knows?

As the Bush administration mulls options for withdrawing forces in Iraq, fault lines are beginning to emerge in a debate between commanders in the field who favor slow reductions and senior generals at the Pentagon who favor cutting the number of combat troops more deeply.

Among others, Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, are said to be leaning toward a recommendation that steep reductions by the end of 2008, perhaps to half of the 20 combat brigades now in Iraq, should be the administration’s goal.

Such a drawdown would be deeper and faster than Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, is expected to recommend next month, administration officials said.

Via New York Times.

Well, are they just "leaning" or have they made their decision?

Now, according to the LA Times, Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise the president to cut the US force in Iraq next year nearly in half.

But without denying the claim, Pace said, "The LA Times article is purely speculative."

Via WWAY3 News Channel.

Or was this a big flap over nothing? Or did someone slap Pace back into line?

The chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff on Friday denied a newspaper report that he will urge President George W. Bush to cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq next year.

"The story is wrong," Marine Gen. Peter Pace said through a spokesman. "It is speculative. I have not made nor decided on any recommendations yet."

Via Reuters.

Note: All emphasis mine.