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Bush requests even more U.S. troops in Iraq– November 17, 2006
by Ashley Houghton
Even as soldiers serve their third or fourth tours in Iraq, Mr. Bush has advocated for a “final push†in Iraq that would require over 20,000 additional U.S. troops to join existing forces in Iraq next year. (This will be in addition to the 57,000 troops that the Pentagon has already prepared to deploy early next year to maintain the current levels of roughly 150,000.)This push for increased troops in Iraq is one part of a four-point “victory plan†designed by the Bush administration that supplements a recent request for an additional $127-160 billion to the already monstrous war budget for Iraq and Afghanistan. According to this logic, the best way to end a war is to revive it, forcing tens of thousands of young people into a dangerous conflict with hardly any potential positive results. The additional request will make Iraq the most expensive U.S. war since World War II.Now that Bush has abandoned the goal of democracy in Iraq, it’s hard to be sure what this “victory plan†actually achieves. It does not grant Iraq independence without permanent U.S. bases, it does not take U.S. forces out of Iraq, and it offers no actual exit strategy. This "victory plan" is nothing more than throwing good money after bad, and much worse, continuing to sacrifice thousands of lives in a battle that can never be won. Once again, the Bush administration seems to be glaringly ignoring Americans’ overwhelming desire to get out of Iraq. Will Congress make him listen?Can we really afford to put this number of people in harm’s way for a “final push†when we don’t know when it will stop? Please listen to the numbers you are sending, Mr. Bush, because this doesn’t sound like a final “victory planâ€; it sounds like we’re pushing resources into a dismal situation that can only get worse.
