Petraeus may give politicians one brigade pullback

NY Times:

Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, has told President Bush that he wants to maintain heightened troop levels in Iraq well into next year to reduce the risk of military setbacks, but could accept the pullback of roughly 4,000 troops beginning in January, in part to assuage critics in Congress, according to senior administration and military officials.

General Petraeus’s view is considered overly cautious by some other senior military officials and some members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, officials said. But they said it reflected his concern that the security gains made so far in Baghdad, Anbar Province and other areas were fragile and easily reversed.

Beyond the gesture of pulling back one brigade, officials who have been involved in the preparation of General Petraeus’s Congressional testimony to be delivered next week say he will discuss the possibility of far deeper withdrawals beyond January that, over a number of months, could bring American force levels down to about 130,000 troops, where they stood at the beginning of 2007. But they said it was unclear how specific the general would be in publicly discussing the timing of pullbacks, and they said that even in internal administration deliberations he had described conditions that must be met before a reduction.

White House officials said Thursday night that Mr. Bush had yet to make any final decisions about the recommendations. But General Petraeus’s apparent agreement to a small withdrawal beginning early next year could fit into a narrow consensus that is beginning to emerge on Capitol Hill. Many Republicans and Democrats agree that some troop withdrawal should begin soon, though major disagreements remain about how quick and deep the subsequent withdrawals should be.

...

This appears to be the consensus of the ignorant and the craven. Clearly the military commanders do not want to repeat the mistakes of the Abizaid-Casey command of pulling back from real estate purchased with the troops blood just to appease the craven objectives of Defeatocrats. They certainly would not want to have this move mandated by Congress.

The Washington Post says the pullout would be "contingent on the ability of U.S. and Iraqi forces to sustain ... recent gains in security and to make further gains in stabilizing Iraq." Where the ...'s are the Post inserted their bias on the success of the surge. It is passing strange that the Washington Post is so skeptical of what not just the military is reporting from Iraq, but also many Democrats who have seen the success of the surge in person. The Post has been running ridiculously pessimistic pieces all week.