the president
regarding troop levels in iraq:
We will stay there until the job is completed and our commanders on the ground tell us. I think it's very important for those of us in the political arena to listen to the commanders on the ground.
a commander
on the ground:
The political and security situation in western Iraq is grim and will continue to deteriorate unless the region receives a major infusion of aid and a division is sent to reinforce the American troops operating there, according to the senior Marine intelligence officer in Iraq.
The assessment, prepared last month by Col. Peter Devlin at the Marine headquarters in Anbar Province, has been sent to senior military officials in Iraq and at the Pentagon.
...
Without the deployment of an additional division, “there is nothing MNF-W can do to influence the motivation of the Sunni to wage an insurgency,” the report states, according to a military officer familiar with it. MNF-W stands for Multinational Force-West, the formal name of the Marine command. A division numbers about 16,000 troops.
for the record, i don't think that extra troops will do anything but further inflame anbar province. but if bush claims to be listening to the forces on the ground, why isn't he?
