Monday, September 10, 2007

More To Come

Newsweek (09.10.07):
"Newsweek has learned that a separate internal report being prepared by a Pentagon working group will 'differ substantially' from Petraeus’s recommendations, according to an official who is privy to the ongoing discussions but would speak about them only on condition of anonymity.

Hirsh: Rating Petraeus’s Report to the Hill

"An early version of the report, which is currently being drafted and is expected to be completed by the beginning of next year, will 'recommend a very rapid reduction in American forces: as much as two-thirds of the existing force very quickly, while keeping the remainder there.'"

And the General is pissed. Washington Post (09.09.07):

"The polite discussion in the White House Situation Room a week ago masked a sharper clash over the U.S. venture in Iraq, one that has been building since Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, sent a rear admiral to Baghdad this summer to gather information. Soon afterward, officials said, Fallon began developing plans to redefine the U.S. mission and radically draw down troops.

Among Top Officials, 'Surge' Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting

"One of those plans, according to a Centcom officer, involved slashing U.S. combat forces in Iraq by three-quarters by 2010. In an interview, Fallon disputed that description but declined to offer details. Nonetheless, his efforts offended Petraeus's team, which saw them as unwelcome intrusion on their own long-term planning. The profoundly different views of the U.S. role in Iraq only exacerbated the schism between the two men.

"'Bad relations?' said a senior civilian official with a laugh. 'That's the understatement of the century. . . . If you think Armageddon was a riot, that's one way of looking at it.'"

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