MILITARY GENIUS AT WORK – AT 8:57 P.M. ET:   President Obama has apparently blindsided his generals by approving a drastic reduction in American forces in Iraq.  There is substantial anger in the military.  From Fox:

The Obama administration has decided to drop the number of U.S. troops in Iraq at the end of the year down to 3,000, marking a major downgrade in force strength, multiple sources familiar with the inner workings and decisions on U.S. troop movements in Iraq told Fox News.

Senior commanders are said to be livid at the decision, which has already been signed off by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Panetta, touring sites Tuesday in advance of the Sept. 11 10th commemoration, insisted "no decision has been made" on the number of troops to stay in Iraq.

"That obviously will be the subject of negotiations with the Iraqis and as a result of those negotiations. As I said no decision has been made of what the number will be," he said.

Currently, about 45,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq. The generals on the ground had requested a reduced number of troops remaining in Iraq at the end of the year, but there was major pushback about "the cost and the political optics" of keeping that many in Iraq. The military's troop-level request was then reduced to 10,000.
Commanders said they could possibly make that work "in extremis," in other words, meaning they would be pushing it to make that number work security-wise and manpower-wise.

Now, sources confirm that the administration has pushed the Pentagon to cut the number even lower, and commanders are concerned for the safety of the U.S. troops who would remain there.

"We can't secure everybody with only 3,000 on the ground nor can we do what we need to with the Iraqis," one source said.

COMMENT:  Some pundits are speculating that domestic politics controlled this decision, a desire not to offend the leeft wing of the Democratic Party, which wants all American troops out of Iraq.  (Sometimes I think they want all American troops out of America as well.) 

That's probably correct.  There doesn't seem to be any legitimate military reason for such a drastic cut, but this will make the Obama base happy, and give them something to cheer about.

September 6, 2011