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Bush Set to Announce Troop Buildup Plans


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Guest bleedsbluengold24

Jan 10, 11:04 AM (ET)

 

By JENNIFER LOVEN

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush will tell the nation Wednesday night he will send more than 20,000 additional American forces to Iraq, acknowledging that it was a mistake earlier not to have more American and Iraqi troops fighting the war.

 

Seeking support for a retooled strategy to win support for the unpopular war, the president will acknowledge that the rules of engagement were flawed because certain neighborhoods in Baghdad were put off limits by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said. "Military operations sometimes were handcuffed by political interference by the Iraqi leadership," he said.

 

Bartlett also said the Iraqis had failed to deliver on earlier pledges to commit more of their troops. "They (the Iraqis) are going to have more boots on the ground," he said. "They're going to be the ones doing the knocking on the door."

 

Al-Maliki has assured Bush that "this is going to be an operation in Baghdad that will make no difference between Shiite, Sunni or other types of illegal militia or illegal activity," Bartlett said.

 

Even before Bush speaks, Democrats were laying plans to register their opposition to the troop buildup. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged to hold a vote on the increase, trying to isolate Bush on his handling of the war. Democratic leaders in the Senate, saying they hoped to win some Republican support, said they planned to have their chamber debate a symbolic measure next week also expressing opposition to troop increases.

 

The Democratic congressional election victory in November showed "American voters expect us to help get us out of Iraq," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a 2008 presidential hopeful and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said as his panel heard independent experts on Iraq.

 

In the latest sign of GOP unease on the war, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, top Republican on the Foreign Relations panel, said, "The president and his team need to explain what objectives we are trying to achieve if forces are expanded, where and how they will be used," and how long additional troops may be needed.

 

For a little over 20 minutes Wednesday night, Bush is to explain why a gradual buildup of about 20,000 additional U.S. troops, along with other steps expected to include pumping $1 billion into Iraq's economy, is the answer for a more than 3 1/2-year-old war that has only gotten deadlier with no end in sight.

 

The administration plans to expand an existing program to decentralize reconstruction efforts. Ten units known as Provincial Reconstruction Teams will be expanded to 19, with the additional units based in Baghdad and in Anbar province, seats of most of the worst violence. The teams, under State Department control, will administer some of the economic aid, including an effort to provide small loans to start or expand businesses.

 

Bartlett did a round of interviews on television morning shows to set the stage for the president's address.

 

"A vast majority of the American people are not satisfied with the progress in Iraq," Bartlett said. "President Bush is in their camp. He's not satisfied, he's going to say the strategy was not working, he's going to tell them specifically how we're going to fix the strategy."

 

Bush will say that the infusion of additional American forces will depend on Iraq taking specific steps to curb sectarian violence and making other moves to deal with political and economic problems. The first batch of new U.S. troops is expected to be in Iraq within three weeks.

 

Bartlett also said that Bush will "make very clear that America's commitment is not open-ended, that benchmarks have to be met, that milestones have to be reached both on the security side but just as importantly on the political side and the economic side. It will be unequivocal in President Bush's speech tonight that the Iraqis have to step up."

 

In his speech, Bush was to acknowledge that mistakes have been made, Bartlett said.

 

"The president will say very clearly tonight that there were mistakes with the earlier operations, that it did not have enough Iraqi troops or U.S. troops, that the rules of engagement - the terms in which our troops would actually conduct these operations - were flawed," Bartlett said.

 

After nearly four years of fighting, $400 billion and thousands of American and Iraqi lives lost, the White House calls the president's prime-time address from the White House library just the start of a debate over Iraq's many problems.

 

The address - one of the most pivotal of Bush's presidency - is the centerpiece of an aggressive public relations campaign that also will include detailed briefings for lawmakers and reporters, trips abroad by Cabinet members and a series of appearances by Bush starting with a trip Thursday to Fort Benning, Ga.

 

Crafting the new policy took the president nearly three months. Relevant agencies conducted reviews, outside experts were called in, and the president consulted several times with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other prominent Iraqi leaders.

 

In the meantime, the sectarian violence in Iraq continued unabated, and public approval of Bush's handling of the Iraq war hit a record low of 27 percent in December, according to an AP-Ipsos poll.

 

The president will say that the 132,000 troops now in Iraq will be augmented with more sent to both Baghdad, which has been consumed by sectarian violence, and the western Anbar Province, a base of the Sunni insurgency and foreign al-Qaida fighters.

 

Moving first into Iraq will be the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, which is now in Kuwait and poised to head quickly into the country, a defense official said. The brigade, numbering about 3,500 troops, is based at Fort Bragg, N.C.

 

The president will ignore the recommendation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group that he include Syria and Iran in discussions about efforts to staunch Iraqi bloodshed, the official said.

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Guest bleedsbluengold24

Good question. Not being sarcastic, as I would like to know your opinion, but how do you recommend we do that?

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A gradual REDUCTION would be a good first step forward. More lives and a great deal more money down a black hole. How long can we substain the money we are pouring into Iraq without cutting services and raising taxes? Someone eventually has to pay for this mess. Someone's kids or grand kids will suffer for it. Armed Forces are already spread thin. Where do we get the additional forces from? As some one who has a lot of friends in the military the constant rotation into Iraq and Afgan puts tremendous stress on the troops AND their families. They can't keep it up indefinitely. Or is that the plan to keep our troops there forever?

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Looks just like Vietnam, one we shouldnt be their but they wont leave until they are sure that they can get out without looking weak or admitting defeat. Their little stunt about leaving the Iraqi police in charge didn't work, obviously with the sending of more troops, so the government will look for another way. Our boys won't come home while Bush is in office.

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