SCOOP LINK:
US Not Winning War in Iraq, Bush
Says for 1st Time
President discloses
order given to Pentagon to plan for expansion of Army,
Marine Corps.
By Peter Baker
The
Washington Post
Wednesday 20 December 2006
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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122006J.shtml
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121900880.html?nav=rss_email/components
President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.
As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, "Absolutely, we're winning."
In another turnaround, Bush said he has ordered Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to develop a plan to increase the troop strength of the Army and Marine Corps, heeding warnings from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill that multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan are stretching the armed forces toward the breaking point. "We need to reset our military," said Bush, whose administration had opposed increasing force levels as recently as this summer.
… snip …
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Story…
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122006J.shtml
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/19/AR2006121900880.html?nav=rss_email/components
ENDS