Hmmmmmmm.... Now they've got the commander of U.S. forces south of Baghdad saying that we must not reduce troop levels before the Summer of 2008. That's interesting not just because it's part of the Bush push to keep extending any possible withdrawal timetable, but because it has already been accepted by all that we can not keep the current surge going past next April without further extending the troops' tours of duty. Originally the troops were to have no more than a year in Iraq at a time, followed by at least one year's rest. Then they extended the troop tours to 15 months, and started calling troops back to Iraq too soon. If they're now talking about maintaining current troop levels past next April, that would mean extending Iraq tours to 18 months. This may be what they're aiming at, because recently they leaked that Bush is considering another troop surge on top of the current one. Some credible sources are already describing the troops as "at the breaking point". The Senate better do something before this administration destroys the Army.
