Troops Out By November? Yeah, Right

Bush’s escalation plan is set to begin right away, according to news reports.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush is prepared to send about 20,000 more troops to Iraq in an effort to pacify Baghdad, with the goal of handing control of the country to Iraqi troops by November, a senior administration official said Tuesday.

Most of the additional troops will be deployed in Baghdad, where American and Iraqi troops fought a 10-hour street battle with insurgents on Tuesday.

But about 4,000 would be dispatched to the restive Anbar province, the heart of the Sunni Arab insurgency, the senior official said.

The first troops in the new wave could be a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division that is already in Kuwait.

The official cautioned that the November date for Iraq control does not mean U.S. troops would withdraw by then.

The newest thing to come out here, is the idea that Iraqis will take control by November. Is this one of those, “that’s our goal, which doesn’t really mean anything, because it’s not like we’re going to actually do anything if that goal isn’t reached”, things? My guess would be, yes.

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