Rolling With The McCain Doctrine
by digby
President Bush plans to order extra U.S. troops to Iraq as part of a new push to secure Baghdad, but in smaller numbers than previously reported, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The president, who is completing a lengthy review of Iraq policy, is considering dispatching three to four U.S. combat brigades to Iraq, or no more than 15,000 to 20,000 U.S. troops, the officials said. Bush is expected to announce his decision next week.
This is nothing but flim flam. They first raised the number to 30,000 or more so the pundits would excalim that he was not really escalating when he “only” raised the troop level 20,000. But that number comes right out of the McCain Doctrine:
October 27, 2006
Republican Sen. John McCain, a possible 2008 presidential candidate, said Friday the United States should send another 20,000 troops to Iraq.
A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCain said increasing U.S. forces would require expanding the standing Army and Marine Corps – a step the Bush administration has resisted. He also reiterated his opposition to a hasty U.S. withdrawal.
“If we leave … the fighting will evolve into chaos there,” McCain told reporters after speaking at an event for local Republican candidates.
Reporters asked him to elaborate on his statement last week in Iowa that more combat troops are needed in Iraq to quell a “classic insurgency.”
“Another 20,000 troops in Iraq, but that means expanding the Army and the Marine Corps,” he said.
“It’s not just a set number.”
Bush is escalating the war exactly as St. John says he should. He’s agreed to expand the military and send in 20,000 more troops right away. It appears to me that John McCain is now in charge of Iraq policy.
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