General Peter Pace Calling For Troop Cuts In Iraq?
He is, but I’m not sure it’s as controversial as described in this article:
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war.
Administration and military officials say Marine Gen. Peter Pace is likely to convey concerns by the Joint Chiefs that keeping well in excess of 100,000 troops in Iraq through 2008 will severely strain the military. This assessment could collide with one being prepared by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, calling for the U.S. to maintain higher troop levels for 2008 and beyond.
I’m not sure what sort of “collision” is really going to happen here. Petraeus has already been planning to reduce the “surge” deployment by April of 2008. That is a significant reduction in troops right there. Beyond that, there may be further reductions as the President has repeatedly talked of shifting our troops more to support roles as more and more Iraqi security forces are able to take the lead.
With the progress we’ve seen during the surge, I suspect a lot of that will be happening next year.
But that won’t stop the media from trying to wring as much spin out of Pace’s comments as possible.
