AllNewsBlog: There'll Still Be a Presence

Via Matt Stoller and Huffington Post (and the Washington Post), this info regarding the training of Iraqi security forces:

Pulling out combat units would not mean the end of the U.S. military involvement in Iraq, which could continue in a different form for years. The withdrawal would be partially offset by an influx of advisers, trainers and embedded troops. The number of such troops now stands at roughly 5,000 and should be quadrupled to about 20,000, the group's plan says, according to a source. The commission envisions leaving at least several thousand quick-strike U.S. combat soldiers to protect all those other American troops.

Although it was not clear how many U.S. troops would be left in Iraq by 2008, some people knowledgeable about the commission's deliberations have said that it might be possible to reduce the force of 140,000 to half by then. "There'll still be a presence there that will be significant just because of the nature of embedded forces," said one of the sources familiar with the commission's report. "It won't be what we have now, I'll tell you that."

So out of 140,000 currently in Iraq, only 5,000 are working toward the milestone George Bush has identified as the trigger for redeployment: Iraqi military readiness. What does that say about the Bush administration's priorities? It seems we're still (and would remain, even after this proposed major realignment) focused much more on the eradication of undesirable elements than on the integration of all Iraqi people into a functioning democratic state.

Leahy: Terror screening oversight a must - 1 Dec 2006 at 2:54pm - WASHINGTON -- The incoming Senate Judiciary chairman pledged greater scrutiny Friday of computerized government anti-terrorism screening after learning that millions of Americans who travel internationally have been assigned risk assessments over the last four years without their knowledge.

U.S. commander: Iraq transfer under way - 1 Dec 2006 at 11:34am - WASHINGTON -- The commander of coalition forces in northern Iraq said Friday that four Iraqi army divisions in his area will be put under Baghdad's control by next March, just the kind of transfer that a U.S. study commission reportedly is ready to embrace.

Bush to hold talks with Iraqi leaders - 1 Dec 2006 at 1:06pm - WASHINGTON -- President Bush will meet with one of Iraq's most powerful Shiite politicians on Monday in a continued bid to find a new approach to ending sectarian violence that is pulling at the seams of the nation. Then, in January, the president will meet with the Sunni vice president of Iraq, a senior administration official said Friday.