About 25% Of US Troops Coming Home From Iraq This Year?

by John Hawkins | May 22, 2006 2:22 pm

It’s hard to know how much credence to give to this story[1], but if it’s true, it’s really good news:

“Tony Blair and George Bush will announce that they are to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq at a summit in Washington as early as this week, RAW STORY has learned.

The process has already been carefully choreographed in an attempt to bolster the popularity of both Bush and Blair who have suffered domestically for their handling of the war.

The scope of the phased withdrawal, which will see the 133,000 US force levels cut to around 100,000 by the end of the year and British numbers almost halved, has already been agreed, one senior defence source said.

The actual announcement will come in response to a statement from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that his government believes coalition forces are no longer needed in a number of provinces.”

Will there be a summit and a big announcement in the next week or two? Will it take longer? Don’t know. But, George Bush has been saying for quite a while now that as the Iraqi troops stand up, our troops will stand down. It has been a “long, hard slog” in Iraq, but as early as July of last year[2], there were predictions that we’d be bringing home a significant number of troops this summer because they’ll no longer be needed in Iraq, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that prediction came to fruition in the next few weeks or months. Although you wouldn’t know it from reading the mainstream media, most of Iraq isn’t wracked with violence, and since the number of trained Iraqi troops have been increasing rapidly, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if we could bring some of our troops home.

If that turns out to be the case, it’ll be a real sign of progress and proof that Bush has taken the right approach. Unlike the Democrats in Washington who’ve placed political concerns above winning the war, Bush has refused to set a timetable and has said over and over again that decisions will be made based on what’s happening on the ground, not politics. That’s was the right decision and America may be about to see some proof of that.

Endnotes:
  1. this story: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Report_Bush_Blair_to_announce_phased_0522.html
  2. July of last year: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/archives/week_2005_08_28.PHP#004334

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