The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article on whether Bush is planning a secret second surge in Iraq. He might be increasing the number of troops there -- up to 200,000 troops -- by redeploying more forces and keeping other troops in Iraq longer than their normal rotations.
The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.
The little-noticed second surge, designed to reinforce U.S. troops in Iraq, is being executed by sending more combat brigades and extending tours of duty for troops already there.
The actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades.
Would you put it past him? I certainly wouldn't. It's not like he has any trouble with going beyond what he is authorized to do. And it's not like the Democrats ever hold him accountable (let alone the Republicans). Well, since this surge is going so well, why not try another? I'm sure we'll soon be hearing stories of how much progress we're making in Iraq because of the new and improved second surge.
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 6)
61. We have not had another attack on U.S. Soil Since 9-11.Why don't we poll the combat troops on continuing the fight(they are the ones dieing) since some want to govern by consensus.
dex blanchard at 11:30AM on May 24th 2007
62. Maybe some of you would prefer Chavez or Castro to rule you. All I can say if thats what you think about Bush you have not learned anything about freedom. Go to either of those Countrys and see if you can be on the internet and say what you say in America. Maybe you would rather live in Iran or Iraq, they have lots of the freedoms you deserve. NONE.
Terry Campbell at 6:19PM on May 22nd 2007
63. Terry Campbell,
You're almost inarticulate. Just because other countries have leaders who are worse than ours doesn't mean ours isn't vile, stupid, and incompetent.
Are you one of the 65% of Republicans who still think Hussein caused 9/11? http://www.zogby.com/News/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1169
lil_turk at 6:33PM on May 22nd 2007
64. Bush has to be the worst president ever.Our troops deserve a better administration and a real Commander-in-Chief.Our troops are dying,while the Iraqis kill each other.Our troops are in the middle of a sectarian civil war.WHY?????
marie at 7:03PM on May 22nd 2007
65. 65% of republicans do not think hussien had anything to do wiith it, we need to blame our media, both sides and it is sides. I am tired of spin and polls. how about real truth. damn someone pinch me, the truth, we will never know.
rowdy harger at 7:06PM on May 22nd 2007
66. @ RAJ (comment 55)
You said, " IF THIS PRESIDENT IS THE WORST EVER, WHY IS OSAMA LIVING IN A CAVE..?
Why is it that Bush says that he doesn't care about Osama any more... ain't that why we went to Afghnistan?
@ w5ku (comment 56)
You said, "This President is doing exactly what he said he would do and we all agreed it was great idea."
I'm sure that the President IS doing exactly what he said, at some time, to somebody, somewhere... but he tried to drag the whole world into this quagmire... and hardly any other country would go along.
What's all this WE all agreed thing... don't you remember all the propaganda about WMDs and how evil Saddam was and such... that was to drum up support... but Bush didn't get the general consensus that he was looking for ... and went ahead anyway... cos he's an idiot.
Every reality-based person in the entire world, that had an opinion, knew that if the USA went in ... there would be no way out.
So, getting in was easy, lies, propaganda, innuendo, media complicity and an overwhelming military superiority...
The trick was always, 'how to get out', didn't you know that? Guess Shithead Bush didn't know that, or didn't care about that... either.
So, don't revise history and try to say that 'we' all went along with Bush and Co.... 'cos it's just not true.
pboyfloyd at 7:37PM on May 22nd 2007
67. you idiots that want use out of irage what U.S. City
do you want use to fight in S.F. Houstin or Miami wake up G.W. will be rememberd in history with F D R and Harry Truman Bush and The next President Newt Gingrich can see the wold as it is not like harry Ried and that chapa quidic Clown from Massa two shits you wont see the light till the musroom cloud blocks the sun
leonard schweitzer at 2:54PM on May 23rd 2007
68. but my son is in Baghdad
===========================================
ON HAIFA STREET, 4+ YEARS LATER
This is from the DOD and I found these excerpts very interesting:
New Unit Starts Work to Secure Baghdad’s Haifa Street
By Sgt. Robert Yde
2nd Brigade Combat Team
1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
FORWARD OPERATING BASE UNION III, Iraq, May 14, 2007 — After spending the majority of the month of April providing assistance in Diwaniyah, Iraq, the soldiers of 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, are back in Baghdad and focusing their attention on to their next mission – taking over operations in the Haifa Street area in Baghdad’s city center.
“It’s definitely a more challenging battlefield,” Troop A commander, Capt. Gerald Resmondo said of Haifa Street. “It’s probably the most challenging battle space or area of operations that we’ve operated in, just because of all the built-up and high-rise buildings.”
Resmondo said that right now the biggest issues residents are facing stems from a lack of electricity.
“They only have about one hour of electricity a day in the whole (area), and it’s usually early in the morning, which causes more problems such as being able to get water because electricity controls the pumps that pump the water into their storage tanks,” he explained.
Steve J. at 8:30PM on May 22nd 2007
69. The progress in the past three short months in Iraq is unmistakable.
===================================================
2 MONTHS LATER, NO PROGRESS
Gen. Mixon stated over 2 months ago that he did not have enough troops to quell the violence in Diyala province. He still doesn't have enough troops:
Presenter: U.S. Army Commander of Multnational Division North and the 25th Infantry Division Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon
May 11, 2007
Q General, do you -- well, two things. One is that, do you think that the surge in forces is going to be required into next year? And the second thing is, do you have enough troops in your area now to do, you know, the job that needs to be done?
GEN. MIXON: I have enough soldiers in my area of Nineveh province, Salahuddin province and also Kirkuk province to provide that security and to conduct operations with those divisions in that area and to move them forward. I do not have enough soldiers right now in Diyala province to get that security situation moving.
We have plans to put additional forces in that area. I can't discuss the details of that. We have put additional forces in there over the last couple of months, an additional Stryker Battalion. But I'm going to need additional forces in Diyala province to get that situation to a more acceptable level so the Iraqi security forces will be able in the future to handle that.
More on Diyala:
GEN. MIXON: Moving over to the governance line of effort, I'll use the following terms: "functional," which means the government is functioning; "semi-functional," which means the government is functioning but with challenges that are slowing our progress; and "nonfunctional," which is the same as the name implies, the government is not functioning in an appropriate manner and is impacting our ability to provide a secure environment, and most important, essential services for the population.
Government in Diyala, however, is nonfunctional. The leaders of this province are still working on their 2007 budget, and I was advised today that they have completed that budget, although late. Unfortunately, they failed to execute their 2006 budget, which puts the province well behind on essential services. They cannot regularly achieve a quorum in their provincial council, and they fail to provide those essential services the population needs.
Q General, I'm Carl Osgood. I write for Executive Intelligence Review. Can you characterize how the level of violence in your area, particularly in the non-Kurdish parts of your area, has changed over the last four months since the beginning -- over four or five months since the beginning of the surge, basically?
GEN. MIXON: We've seen the level of violence in Diyala province increase. We believe that's caused by two factors. Number one, we have picked up our level of offensive operations, so we've been engaging the enemy and moving them out of areas that they in the past were operating and may have had safe haven. But number two, we also do believe that there are elements moving out of Baghdad.
In the other areas, the level of violence has remained about the same. But we have seen more spectacular attacks, VBIEDs and so forth, directed against the civilian population, directed against the Iraqi police and the Iraqi army. But we also have seen a greater number of attacks against civilians throughout our battlespace. And so that's what we have seen across my area of operation.
Steve J. at 8:33PM on May 22nd 2007
70. I can assure you that we would have had MORE attacks within our borders if we were not there.
=================================================
No you can't. You are just repeating wingnut propaganda.
Steve J. at 8:34PM on May 22nd 2007
71. Will you print anything positive?
=============================================
Do you mean something like this below?
CNN LARRY KING LIVE
Interview With Dick Cheney, Lynne Cheney
Aired May 30, 2005 - 21:00 ET
KING: To be removed. It's not going to be -- it's not going to be a 10-year event?
D. CHENEY: No. I think we may well have some kind of presence there over a period of time. But I think the level of activity that we see today, from a military standpoint, I think will clearly decline. I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency.
Steve J. at 9:02PM on May 22nd 2007
72. LEONARD -
Stop believing the lies. Even The Heritage Foundation doesn't believe the BS about "fight them over there rather thanover here."
"There's no national security analyst that's really credible who thinks that people are going to come from Iraq and attack the United States, that that's a credible scenario," said retired Army Lt. Col. James Carafano, a specialist in international security threats at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
Steve J. at 9:04PM on May 22nd 2007
73. CHK -
Please don't post any more trash from FRONTPAGE.
Steve J. at 9:06PM on May 22nd 2007
74. For those of you criticizing the source of ths report, please note that it is from Hearst Newspaper, not San Fran. The Albany (NY) Times-Union, another Hearst-owned newspaper, also ran the story.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=591455
Steve J. at 9:19PM on May 22nd 2007
75. My goodness, what a bunch of anti war bigotry is on display here. It seems to me that the underlying theme to all these angry BDS comments is simple denial.
simply put: pretending that Bush is the enemy makes you guys feel safer than facing the fact that there are muslim madmen out there who want you dead.
skipsailing at 1:14PM on May 23rd 2007