Thursday, November 30, 2006
Baker’s Iraq Study Group To Recommend Troop Withdrawals (12:09 am)
David Sanger and David Cloud for the NY Times report:
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group reached a consensus on Wednesday on a final report that will call for a gradual pullback of the 15 American combat brigades now in Iraq but stop short of setting a firm timetable for their withdrawal, according to people familiar with the panel’s deliberations.I suspect the only way withdrawals will ever happen is if Democrats can get creative, and orchestrate domestic political conditions which compel Bush to choose between troop withdrawal and something worse, from his sociopath’s perspective.
The report, unanimously approved by the 10-member panel, led by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, is to be delivered to President Bush next week. It is a compromise between distinct paths that the group has debated since March, avoiding a specific timetable, which has been opposed by Mr. Bush, but making it clear that the American troop commitment should not be open-ended. The recommendations of the group, formed at the request of members of Congress, are nonbinding.
posted by Brian Zick
Reader Comments
sometimes I feel that although the NYTimes is a great publication, one should look at other great news sources as well, outside of the US. I recommend the UK’s New Statesman magazine website, http://www.newstatesman.com. I just feel that in order to have an informed opinion about something, one has to look at more than just one news source, especially outside of the US.
posted by Maria Stella on 11-30-06 at 9:49 AM
Martha: Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. The word “withdrawal” is used seven times in the article, including once in the first sentence (quoted above), so your assertion that “There’s no withdrawal in the article” is obviously erroneous. And the usage in that sentence is equally obvious as a synonym for “pullback,” employed just before.
posted by Brian Zick on 11-30-06 at 11:33 AM
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There’s no withdrawal in the article. Sanger and Cloud write, “The report leaves unstated whether the 15 combat brigades that are the bulk of American fighting forces in Iraq would be brought home, or simply pulled back to bases in Iraq or in neighboring countries. (A brigade typically consists of 3,000 to 5,000 troops.) From those bases, they would still be responsible for protecting a substantial number of American troops who would remain in Iraq, including 70,000 or more American trainers, logistics experts and members of a rapid reaction force.”
Even NYT’s headline doesn’t call it withdrawal ("Pullback").
posted by Martha on 11-30-06 at 9:25 AM