"Significant Troop Withdrawals Soon" Version #19,490

AP:

On the eve of President Bush's summit on Iraq, the top U.S. commander in Baghdad predicted Sunday that coalition troops will gradually move out of the country in the coming months.

Gen. George Casey said he thinks it will be possible to withdraw some of the 130,000 U.S. forces in the months ahead as long as Iraq's government and security forces make progress.

Casey would not say whether he plans to advise Bush on a troop reduction plan during two days of meetings with the administration's top national security officials that begin Monday at Camp David in Maryland. But the general hinted the time soon may come for such a recommendation.

Maybe Gen. Casey should get back to us when Iraq can sustain a security force capable simply of manning checkpoints, much less performing independently in battle. Three years on, how is it possible that American troops are still in the slightly awkward position of shooting pregnant Iraqi women en route to the hospital to give birth, as this recent incident showed?

By the way, this is from the same AP report, but farther down:

Bush says he will make decisions about troop levels based on recommendations from Casey and other military commanders in Iraq. Although Casey said "it's not likely" that he would request more troops during the discussions, he did not rule out bringing in more to help secure Baghdad in the future.

"Right now we're not planning on it, but it's possible," Casey told "Fox News Sunday."

"I constantly evaluate the situation," Casey said. "And if I think I need more, I'll ask for more. If I think I need less, I'll tell the president that I need less."

Mossy carrots and kicked cans...anyone not understand how this is going to work for the next 5-10 years?