Troop levels to remainthe same until 2010…
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army has plans to keep the current level of soldiers in Iraq through 2010, the top Army officer said Wednesday, a later date than Bush administration or Pentagon officials have mentioned thus far.
The Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, cautioned against reading too much into the planning, saying troops levels could be adjusted to actual conditions in Iraq.
SNIP
Even so, his comments were the latest acknowledgment by Pentagon officials that a significant withdrawal of troops from Iraq is not likely in the immediate future.</blockquote
Death Toll rises…
Schoomaker spoke as the U.S. military death toll in Iraq rose to at least 2,750 since the war’s start in March 2003. On Wednesday, the U.S. command said three U.S. Marines and two soldiers were killed in fighting there.
More money needed…
In another indication of the burden the Army expects to bear, Schoomaker said he believes the Army will need $138.8 billion in 2008, nearly $40 billion more than its planned expenditures for the 2007 budget year, which began Oct. 1. Schoomaker’s proposed figure is nearly $25 billion more than the initial amount discussed by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
troops levels could be adjusted to actual conditions in Iraq.
In five years, nothing else has been “adjusted to actual conditions in Iraq,” so why should we believe them now?
vtex/llamp
The way things have been increasingly going, there is no way the public is going to put up with troops in Iraq at this level for 4 more years. No way.