Bush to Cut Army Tours to 12 Months

[onehandle]

Source: Washington Post

President Bush plans to announce today that he will cut Army combat tours in Iraq from 15 months to 12 months, returning rotations to where they were before last year's troop buildup in an effort to alleviate the tremendous stress on the military, administration officials said.

The move is in response to intense pressure from service commanders who have expressed anxiety about the toll of long deployments on their soldiers and, more broadly, about the U.S. military's ability to confront unanticipated threats. Bush will announce the decision during a national speech, in which aides said he will also embrace Army Gen. David H. Petraeus's plan to indefinitely suspend a drawdown of forces.

The twin decisions may set the course for U.S. policy in Iraq through the fall and perhaps for the rest of Bush's presidency. Frustrated by their inability to force Bush to shift direction since they took over Capitol Hill more than a year ago, congressional Democrats began coalescing behind a strategy of trying to force the Iraqis to shoulder more of the costs of the war and reconstruction. Key Republicans signaled support for the approach.

snip...

The bottom line seems to be that after pulling out the extra forces Bush sent last year, the United States will keep about 140,000 troops in Iraq at least through the November presidential election. In the short term, the debate in Washington instead will focus more intently on trade-offs at home, including the strain on the armed forces and the Treasury. The elimination of 15-month tours will restore deployments to an equal balance of one year in the war zone followed by one year at home. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates extended the tours almost exactly a year ago to provide enough forces for Bush's "surge" of 20,000 additional combat troops and 8,000 support troops. But Army leaders have complained about the strain.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/09/AR2008040902225.html

[Demeter]

1. A Bolt of Lightning Would be Greatly Appreciated Any Time Now

or in the last 8 years, for that matter.

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Do the GOP really believe anyone is going to fall for this?

That's like saying Bush will only cheat on his wife with Condi 3 days a week instead of 5.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. Yeah, NOW he cuts the tours

setting up the next president to have to extend them in order to maintain order in Iraq.

Prick!

[laststeamtrain]

4. AP: Bush to embrace pause in troop cutbacks

Bush to embrace pause in troop cutbacks

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago

Taking the advice of his top commander in Iraq, President Bush has decided not to order additional troop drawdowns for now, leaving open the possibility that about 140,000 U.S. servicemen and women will still be in the war zone when the next president takes office.

In a 12- to 15-minute progress report, Bush on Thursday planned to announce shorter combat tours, but troops already in Iraq won't be going home any earlier, at least for now. Senior defense officials said Bush would announce that Army units heading to Iraq after Aug. 1 would serve 12-month tours rather than their current 15-month deployment, a move that war critics say the president had to make to ease strain on the Army.

The White House disclosed few other details about the speech Bush was to deliver in the Cross Hall of the White House, five years after the U.S. capture of Baghdad. Yet his words were expected to echo the congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker.

<more>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080410/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_iraq

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. However, Stop Loss WILL continue. right georgie? You major league a$$hole!

[singilarpoint]

6. What I'd like to see.

I think the first act President Obama should do is, relieve Petraeus of his command, apologize to the Iraqis on behalf of the American people, then begin the withdraw of our troops....