Bush May Be Planning Second Surge

Hearst Newspapers is reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle that Bush is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq by years end.

The actions could boost the number of combat soldiers from 52,500 in early January to as many as 98,000 by the end of this year if the Pentagon overlaps arriving and departing combat brigades.
Separately, when additional support troops are included in this second troop increase, the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 -- a record-high number -- by the end of the year.

This analysis was done by Hearst Newspapers using Pentagon deployment orders.

This could be the normal result of overlapping deployments.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Carl S. Ey said there was no effort by the Army to carry out "a secret surge" beyond the 20 combat brigades ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
"There isn't a second surge going on; we've got what we've got," Ey said. "The idea that there are ever going to be more combat brigades in theater in the future than the secretary of defense has authorized is pure speculation."

I think some healthy speculation is called for here. Mr. Bush doesn't have a lot of credibility where it comes to Iraq. He certainly wasn't honest in the run-up to war and his administration of the war has been grossly incompetent.

Boosting the number of combat brigades in Iraq from the agreed upon 20 to 28 would be just the sort of thing he would do in an attempt to salvage his presidency and his legacy.

Jim Martin

Thanks to The Populist and The Blog Report for the link.