June 08, 2005
Vietnow
The disconnect between Rose Garden optimism and Baghdad pessimism, according to government officials and independent analysts, stems not only from Bush's focus on tentative signs of long-term progress but also from the shrinking range of policy options available to him if he is wrong.
Having set out on a course of trying to stand up a new constitutional, elected government with the security firepower to defend itself, Bush finds himself locked into a strategy that, even if it proves successful, forecasts many more deadly months to come first, analysts said.
Military commanders in Iraq privately told a visiting congressional delegation last week that the United States is at least two years away from adequately training a viable Iraqi military, but that it is no longer reasonable to consider boosting U.S. troops already strained by the two-year operation, said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.
Posted by Eddie Tews at June 8, 2005 12:42 PM
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