They used "temporary increase" and "escalation."
Gail Collins has been doing a fine job giving clear sighted and hard-hitting analysis of the war, and of the administration's law-breaking.
That's great to hear -- thanks for the info!
Wouldn't call it a "temporary increase" either. Temporary increases have a tendency to cease being temporary very quickly.
Once they're there, they're staying until we get out. We've already seen this, as there have been attempts to slightly draw down the number of troops, only to have them sent straight back with a few more to boot.
It's an escalation. It's an increase in troop levels. Which will mean an increase in violence. An increase in the death rate, the insurgency may re-surge (if that's a word), as Iraqi's from all sides start going after the common enemy, again. I say "may" because who knows. They might continue more or less ignoring the Americans as they work on killing each other. Either way, it just means more bloodshed.
And it ain't reversing until GWB is out of office, unfortunately.
By the way, where are all these infantry troops coming from? The reserves? Afghanistan? Some 40 year old guy with 3 kids in Al-Anbar? Further draw down forces in Afhanistan chasing Osama, while letting the Taliban retake Khandahar?
Are they going to retrain support soldiers to be front-liners, while bringing in more National Guard to man the support roles? Or retrain support troops to be front line and replace them with private contractors?
The army hasn't exactly been hitting its recruiting targets lately.
