Iraqis will fill US troop withdrawals: Petraeus

Source: AFP

OWESAT, Iraq (AFP) - The impending drawdown of some 30,000 US troops from Iraq will not disrupt the "relentless" pursuit of Al-Qaeda as Iraqis are ready to take their place, says US commander General David Petraeus.

Washington has projected the withdrawal of five units by July, which would bring the number of US troops in Iraq down from 160,000 currently to about 130,000 -- the level before a "surge" was launched last February.

Speaking on Wednesday in Owesat village on the banks of the Euphrates, about 25 kilometres (17 miles) southwest of Baghdad near the town of Yusufiyah, Petraeus vowed no quarter would be given in the fight against Osama bin Laden's extremist network, blamed for much of the violence in Iraq.

"We cannot let up -- they are much more on the defensive right now than they have been in years and that is where we have to keep them," Washington's top general in Iraq said as he declared the village of Owesat, just months ago a hotbed of Sunni insurgency, now secure.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080103/wl_afp/iraqunrestuspetraeus_080103094401

was a friend of ours,and you're no Ike,David.

"We cannot let up" means we are going to let up. So what would this be, about 1971 or 1972?

Viet Nam would be about the year 1967. US losses were averaging about 5,800 each year during the ten year span.

So if he is willing to throw the trained Iraqi army under the bus, go fo it. They don't need the US crutch if they begin to stand on their own

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/world/middleeast/04iraq.html?hp

This will never last fifteen years.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNvietnamization.htm

Again.

After this "drawdown" there will probably be 220,000.

how many times have we come full circle "until we reach where we started and still haven't a clue about that place". Walt Whitman, sort of.

raise the number of troops, and make it seem like we're withdrawing when we're just keeping them there. Repeat game as necessary by domestic politics.

In this corner, we have 10,000 Sunni troops. In that corner, we have 10,000 Shiite troops. And over there, we have 10,000 Kurdish troops. What happens when they have to work together? Ain't gonna work, General. But at least they'll all be armed to the teeth, thanks to you.
All hell is going to break out in Iraq... just a matter of time.

For the upcoming civil war

The troops will be withdrawn from this nightmare scenario never again to be unleashed on these poor souls... Obama will see to it.:patriot: