WH to Offer Troop Cuts, Sorta

Yes its basically a shell game. They'll remove some troops, but it only means the number will fall back to before the SURGE™ began.

The scoop of the day award goes to The New York Times for breaking the story of what the White House plan will be in September after Gen. David H. Petraeus delivers his report [wink, wink] on progress in Iraq.

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Steven Lee Meyers and Thom Shanker pen the front-page scoop for the Times with the news that the White House will propose gradual troop cuts beginning next year, but they're expected to fall well short of Congress' demands. The goal is not to end the war, but to counter public pressure for a quick and total withdrawal and try to win support for "a sustainable footing" at least through the end of President George W. Bush's term in office. Although it will be billed as a new strategy -- what is that, the seventh now? -- it doesn't much sound like it, as it would probably return troop levels to the 130,000-strong force in Iraq before the surge, which is unsustainable past April 2008 anyway because of deployment requirements, according to the Pentagon. It is a new strategy in order to keep wavering Republicans in Congress on board, however. What's unclear is how the mission for the remaining troops might change.

So basically they are saying, "Hey, Amurcins are too stoopid to unerstan' what we're reely doin'."

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