From the ArcaMax Publishing, News & Features Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/newsheadlines/s-374515-813341
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Improved security in Iraq means more U.S. troops
will leave in 2009 regardless of which political party occupies the
White House, a U.S. military expert says.
Jack Keane, a retired U.S. Army vice chief of staff who consults with
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told USA Today he
envisages "significant reductions in 2009 whoever becomes president."
"I believe the momentum we have is not reversible," Keane said.
Keane based his conjecture on increased stability in the Middle
Eastern nation despite the withdrawal of nearly one-quarter of U.S.
combat brigades from surge-heightened levels.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki reinforces that position, having
said last weekend "we defeated" the terrorists, the U.S. newspaper
reported.
Still, U.S. commanders remain leery of projecting more pullbacks. U.S.
Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, second in command in Iraq, said recently
"progress is fragile, and we continue to work to make this progress
irreversible."
The improved situation in Iraq contrasts with escalating violence in
Afghanistan, USA Today noted. U.S. Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he wants to send more troops to
Afghanistan but not at the expense of losing gains in Iraq by shifting
troops prematurely.