WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A spike in violence in Iraq that has heightened worries about civil war has the Pentagon discussing the wisdom of further cutting American forces there, defense officials said on Wednesday.
Bryan Whitman, a senior Pentagon spokesman, said Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, planned to make a recommendation this spring to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and
President George W. Bush on future U.S. troop levels.
"Spring starts this month. And clearly the commanders will be looking at that (future force levels) and whether or not they'll be recommending any force adjustments to the secretary and the president," Whitman said.
Ok, so basically the Pentagon is saying that the military command in Iraq will soon be making a decision about whether or not troops will come home from Iraq. Not exactly smoking gun evidence to prove that our military leaders are "mulling" the wisdom of withdrawing troops, but whatever.
Here's the thing, check out this from later in this same article:
A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. military commanders believed the U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces did "a tremendous job" containing a rash of sectarian violence triggered by last week's bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra.
That bolsters confidence that the Iraqi forces are capable of handling the load in the event the Pentagon cuts U.S. troop levels, the official said. U.S. troops were poised as a rapid-reaction force in the event Iraqi forces became overwhelmed in the latest violence.
The official said there was concern over making troop cuts at a time when many experts were concerned Iraq was descending into a civil war.
"The glass half empty is: 'Oh my God, this is one crisis, what's the next one going to be? And is this the beginning of the meltdown?"' the official said, while noting that U.S. commanders did not believe such a meltdown was imminent.
Just to review, the lede of this story gives us the impression that things have gotten so bad in Iraq that our military may have to keep more troops stationed there longer. Yet in the very same story there is a quote from a military official who states a) military commanders were very impressed with the way Iraqi forces conducted themselves during the recent ruckus, b) that this good impression bolstered opinions that Iraqis were becoming more and more capable of providing their own security and c) that while there were some concerns about civil war no military leaders feel that it is imminent.
Why aren't those points the story rather than this innuendo about a possible delay in troop withdrawal?