Dan
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May 19, 2005
New York Times
Generals Offer Sober Outlook on Iraqi War
By JOHN F. BURNS and ERIC SCHMITT
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 18 - American military commanders in Baghdad and Washington gave a sobering new assessment on Wednesday of the war in Iraq, adding to the mood of anxiety that prompted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to come to Baghdad last weekend to consult with the new government.
In interviews and briefings this week, some of the generals pulled back from recent suggestions, some by the same officers, that positive trends in Iraq could allow a major drawdown in the 138,000 American troops late this year or early in 2006.
One officer suggested Wednesday that American military involvement could last "many years."
Gen. John P. Abizaid, the top American officer in the Middle East, said in a briefing in Washington that one problem was the disappointing progress in developing Iraqi police units cohesive enough to mount an effective challenge to insurgents and allow American forces to begin stepping back from the fighting. General Abizaid, who speaks with President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld regularly, was in Washington this week for a meeting of regional commanders.
In Baghdad, a senior officer said Wednesday in a background briefing that the 21 car bombings in Baghdad so far this month almost matched the total of 25 in all of last year....
Only weeks ago, in the aftermath of the elections, American generals offered a more upbeat view, one that was tied to a surge of Iraqi confidence that one commander in Baghdad now describes as euphoria. But this week, five high-ranking officers, speaking separately at the Pentagon and in Baghdad, and through an e-mail exchange from Baghdad with a reporter in Washington, ranged with unusual candor and detail over problems confronting the war effort...
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/19/international/middleeast/19iraq.html
John F. Burns reported from Baghdad for this article and Eric Schmitt from Washington. Richard A. Oppel Jr. contributed reporting from Baghdad.
[This message has been edited by Mo (edited 24 May 2005).]
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No, that stuff coming down atcha is just from the sh** hitting the fan. Don't know whether it's the stuff or the fan that was supplied by our tax dollars - probably both...
Dan
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[This message has been edited by LabRat (edited 08 June 2005).]
Mo
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The memo confirming pre-meditated War is no secret!
There's no need for 'leftist leaks' ..
unfortunaltely it's all out there plain as day.
The only way you miss it is if you are looking the other way, or only watching Fox.
What's frightning is throughout history a commom ploy used by 'leaders' like our current administration is to convince supporters that the truth is a conspiracy.
Mo
[This message has been edited by Mo (edited 09 June 2005).]
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( even Wya can't contain himself when you use the legit word 
)
Mo
[This message has been edited by Mo (edited 09 June 2005).]