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.

In what alternative universe do these people live?

The Headline:

Iraq Deaths Don't Mean Failure, Pace Says

The recent rise in U.S. troop deaths in Iraq is the "wrong metric" to use in assessing the effectiveness of the new security strategy for Baghdad, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday in a news conference with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates.

To my mind, dead human beings is exactly the right fucking metric. I guess if one of the bodies doesn't belong to Pace, he can overlook them.

What's the right metric? Munitions exploded? Buildings destroyed? Iraqi children killed? Families torn apart? I'll bet you have an answer.

Then, to add insult to injury he adds:

"If you had zero violence and people were not feeling good about their future, where are you?" said Pace, emphasizing that the sentiment of the Iraqi people is a much better measurement than the number of attacks.

Pace you asshole, at least they have a future. Dead Iraqis are pretty much hopeless worm food.


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General Peter Pace says military can't respond to new threats

This is the "official" word. Why does Pace hate the US?

Strained by the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a significant risk that the U.S. military won't be able to quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis, according to a new report to Congress.

The assessment, done by the nation's top military officer, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents a worsening from a year ago, when that risk was rated as moderate.

In SPIIDERWEB™ speak.

Bush has fucked the military and they have no chance to subdue anyone.

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This Just In

File this under: Duh!

The Bush administration's latest attempt to show that the Iranian government is providing weapons to Iraqi Shi'ites undermines its political line by in fact revealing that it has been unable to find any real evidence.

Ya think the Asian Times reads SPIIDERWEB™? I've been posting for days the evidence is not conclusive and even General Pace has said so.

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Joint Chiefs chairman sees no evidence of meddling by Iran's regime

Well whadda ya know. The military brass aren't all idiots.

A day after the U.S. military charged Iran's government with shipping powerful explosive devices to Shiite Muslim fighters in Iraq to use against American troops, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday that he hasn't seen any intelligence to support the claim.

Marine Gen. Peter Pace's comment could make it harder for the Bush administration, its credibility about Iran questioned because of its false pre-war claims about Saddam Hussein, to make its case that Iranian meddling in Iraq is fueling sectarian violence and causing U.S. casualties.

At a briefing Sunday in Baghdad, U.S. military officials said the al-Quds Force, an elite Iranian paramilitary organization, is sending arms into Iraq that include bombs that shoot molten metal jets through the armor of American tanks and Humvees.

They said these "explosively formed projectiles," or EFPs, have killed 170 U.S. troops and wounded more than 600 others and are "coming from the highest level of the Iranian government."

Asked about the briefing during a visit Monday to Canberra, Australia, Pace said he couldn't substantiate the assertion that the clerical regime in Tehran is shipping such devices to Shiite militias in Iraq.

"We know that the explosively formed projectiles are manufactured in Iran. What I would not say is that the Iranian government per se knows about this," Pace replied. "It is clear that Iranians are involved and it is clear that materials from Iran are involved. But I would not say based on what I know that the Iranian government clearly knows or is complicit."

Neither the White House nor the Pentagon responded to requests for an explanation of the apparent contradiction between the nation's highest-ranking military officer and his subordinates in Baghdad.

Of course he's right because that's exactly what I've been saying. If the munitions are coming from Iran, and they well may be, it doesn't mean the Iranian government is involved at any level.

One does not bomb the hell out of a country on suspicions.

Of course, if Bush can claim these suspicions are facts and convince Americans of it, he will attack Iran. Or he will attack anyway. Right now no one is seriously putting in the effort to stop him.

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