Troop Reductions On Track says Patraeus

As this blog has been saying for several years, the plan to turn Iraq into a free state has been working, but of course as we know now, when Patraeus took over as the General things got much better quicker. Quicker than anyone thought it could be...except perhaps US service persons. Patraeus knows how to kill an insurgency, he proved it prior to taking over, now kill it he pretty much has.

This is precisely what this video game, movie watching, happy ending country needed...a faster happier ending. Fine...so we have provided it (are providing it I should say), by blood, sweat and tears of the US (and Iraqi) Serviceman. To learn about the sacrifice made each day by the Iraqi Army and Police force, you have to search for it....those things are not published in the MSM.

Nearly all Iraqi's are incredibly grateful, even if many Americans and Europeans don't get that.

Another thing I have been saying for years is that it remains to be seen if a Muslim country can govern itself as a free nation, free of a dictatorship, free of Sharia law.... and that still remains to be seen. If it doesn't work, the left and especially Europe will blame Republicans, I won't. I'll blame the religion that is spawning these evil murderers.

Bush had the guts to give it a try, to actually change the middle east instead of trying the same ole thing that hasn't worked ever. Plopping a free nation right in the middle of the mess is in my opinion...brilliant.

But I am getting ahead of myself.....Troops are getting ready to bug out. Iraqis must provide their own security, more each day. Is it working? Yes, so far....so good.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2008 – Plans to withdraw four Army brigade combat teams and two Marine battalions by July are “on track” as the military seeks to draw down the number of troops in Iraq as quickly as ground conditions allow, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said today.

Appearing today on CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said the scheduled withdrawal will reduce the number of troops at the height of the surge by one quarter, or roughly 42,500. Further reductions after July will be based on the state of Iraq’s security, he added.

“The guidance that (Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates) in fact has given me -- and the president and my chain of command, what all of them have said -- is that reductions after July should be conditions-based,” he said.

The general said after the upcoming drawdown, Defense Department and military officials will need time to “let things settle a bit” before making further reduction assessments. Their focus, he said, will be on removing forces expeditiously, but without undercutting progress made during the troop surge that launched this time last year. READ THE REST