White House plays down troop withdrawal

Unfortunately, it looks as if Washington is not open to withdrawing troops from Iraq:

The White House on Tuesday played down prospects of major troop withdrawals from Iraq in the near future. “We’re not going to sort of look at our watches and say, ‘Oop, time to go,’ ” said spokesman Tony Snow.

The establishment of a unity government in Baghdad has stirred talk of troop reductions by the United States and Britain, the two major players in terms of soldiers in Iraq. But with violence still widespread, both the White House and Pentagon indicated it may be too soon to make decisions on troop cuts.

“The conditions on the ground tell us that our job’s not done,” Snow said.

At the Pentagon, Brigadier General Carter Ham told reporters that he is unaware of any numerical target for troop cuts this year, and he cautioned against expecting major reductions before Iraqi troops show they can handle the insurgents.

“We want to do it as soon as we can but you can’t do it too fast,” said Ham, who is deputy operations chief for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He cautioned against “rushing to failure.”

I wonder if the Feds realize that empire expansion will require infinitely more soldiers—and that, even with a draft, we will be greatly cutting into the citizenry to fund the flesh for the war. I’m sure they do. After all, it will weaken the United States further, giving our leaders an excuse to make North America more than the continent it is.

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