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the great surgererer .....

the great surgererer .....

 

‘Military planners and White House budget analysts have been asked to provide President Bush with options for increasing American forces in Iraq by 20,000 or more. The request indicates that the option of a major "surge" in troop strength is gaining ground as part of a White House strategy review, senior administration officials said Friday.

Discussion of increasing the number of American troops, at least temporarily, has coursed through Washington for two months, as a possible way to reverse the deteriorating security situation in Baghdad. But the decision to ask the Joint Chiefs of Staff to specify where the additional forces could be found among overstretched Army, Marine and National Guard units, and to seek a cost estimate from the White House Office of Management and Budget, signifies a turn in the debate.

Officials said that the options being considered included the deployment of upwards of 50,000 additional troops, but that the political, training and recruiting obstacles to an increase larger than 20,000 to 30,000 troops would be prohibitive.’

Options Weighed For Surge In GIs To Stabilize Iraq

people power

from the BBC

 'You' named Time's person of 2006

"It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes," Time magazine's Lev Grossman writes.

He should know...

We are losing in Iraq: Powell

disaster of war

From the American Conservative...

For it to be realized, and the disaster of war with Iran to be averted, all the generals must do is show some courage. If the Joint Chiefs keep silent now and allow the folly of an attack on Iran to go forward, they will share in full the moral responsibility for the results, which may include the loss of an army. Perhaps we should call it “Operation Cornwallis.”

Saudi petrolcash for arms and armours?

But there have recently been some signs that Saudi Arabia and the U.S. may not see eye to eye on how to stabilize the region. There has been growing speculation that King Abdullah will soon accede to pleas from leaders of Sunni tribes in Iraq — some of whom have blood ties with members of the Saudi leadership — for money for arms and armor for their own militias, especially if the U.S. were to begin to withdraw and the country fall further into chaos.

criticising the critic's critic

 Bush accused of silencing critic of Iran policy
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 19 December 2006

A former CIA analyst has accused the White House of trying to silence its critics after he was told that an article he wrote criticising the Bush administration's policy on Iran could not be published because it contained classified material. The article had already been cleared by the CIA.

like babies on high chairs

Nelson urges review of NATO operations in Afghanistan
Defence Minister Brendan Nelson is in London for high-level talks with his British counterpart and the UK Foreign Secretary.

Australia has joined forces with the governments of the United Kingdom and Canada to put pressure on NATO to review its operations in Afghanistan.

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Gus: Sure, but don't count too much on the French... They're about to remove all their miserly troops from Afghanistan by early 2007... As well, a controversial doco is about to air on how some French soldiers who had Bin Laden in their sight never got the go ahead to shoot from the US administration... (in charge of operations there)... Yes I know any soldier who sees a beard in that country may not recognise it's a goat... but sometimes when there is a goat there could be fire. 

Counting backwards

"Bush's last day"

 

"We're close to selling a million pieces of assorted stuff. We'll hit that this Christmas season," said Elliott Nachwalter, 56, of Arlington, Vermont, who started the business about 18 months ago out of the back of his fly fishing store.