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Analysis: The Politics of Troop Levels

Council on Foreign Relations

September 15, 2006
Prepared by: Lionel Beehner

“Unwinnable,” declares Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser (LAT), of the Iraq war. Additionally, there are no combat-ready troops (WashPost) in active service to send, argue Lawrence J. Korb and Peter Ogden of the Democratic-aligned Center for American Progress. They say the Bush administration’s “Adapting to Win” plan for Iraq should be renamed “Reinforcing Failure” (Slate’s Fred Kaplan breaks down the deployments of the one million men and women in uniform). Ahead of November’s midterm elections, Democrats are beating the anti-war drums louder. Yet they remain divided on an alternate plan that would break with the “stay-the-course” Republicans but not come off as “cut and run.” Some are calling for an immediate withdrawal. Others are pushing for a timetable for a phased withdrawal. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) favors redeployment—not a retreat—of forces, a policy first put forward last year by Rep. John Murtha (D-PA). Both joined other Democratic congressional leaders in demanding Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. This new Backgrounder breaks down the Democrats' plans on Iraq.

Iraq has seen a “big jump” of U.S. forces from around 130,000 to 147,000 in recent weeks, reports the Army Times. Pentagon officials describe it as a temporary move, mainly to address recent spikes in sectarian violence in Baghdad. Yet the anti-war camp is not buying that argument. “You have to wonder whether this big run-up of troop commitments is related to an attempt to calm the country in the run-up to midterm elections in the United States,” writes Juan Cole in his blog on Middle East politics.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.