The ONLY news coming out of Bush’s three hours of hard work are an increase in troop levels. I’m not reading anywhere that he’s considering a reduction in troop levels, or talking to Iraq’s neighbors, or …….well…….anything else. It’s been obvious for weeks that his plan is going to involve sending more troops in……against the wishes of the American people, against the wishes of the military…..against the wishes of the study group his Daddy put together. The possibility of this maniac doing more damage in the next two years, with a Democratic controlled congress to boot, is fastly becoming a reality. Someone needs to lock this guy up and throw away the key. Send him and Cheney to go live with the Saudis. Funny, Cheney gets called to Saudi, like the good little bitch that he is, and ever since then the talk has been of increasing troop levels. Could it be the Saudis do not want Iraq’s oil production to increase because it will bring the price down?

WASHINGTON: The Bush administration is considering an increase in troop levels in Iraq of 17,000 to 20,000, which would be accomplished in part by delaying the departure of two Marine regiments now deployed in Anbar Province, Pentagon officials said.

The option was among those discussed Thursday in Crawford, Texas, as President George W. Bush met with his national security team, and it has emerged as a likely course as he considers a strategy shift in Iraq, the officials said.

Most of the additional troops probably would be employed in and around Baghdad, the officials said.

With the continuing high levels of violence there, senior officials increasingly say additional U.S. forces will be needed as soon as possible to conduct combat operations to regain control of the capital, rather than primarily to train Iraqi forces.

“The mission that most people are settling on has to do with using them in a security role to quell violence in Baghdad and the surrounding area,” a senior Pentagon official said.

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