The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

There is a bite to the air, and the first snow has fallen, and there's a magical feeling of expectation in everyone's hearts.

Yes, once again, it's that time of year:

Time for the Pentagon to announce that if the current conditions in Iraq are maintained, we should be able to begin drawing down troops next year. And it feels like it was just yesterday that I put away my "Bring Home the Troops" wreath.

The United States now has about 158,000 troops in Iraq. Under the current plan, the Pentagon would pull five brigades out by July, reducing the force by about 20,000 combat troops plus support personnel.

Gates has said he would like to see another five brigades taken out of Iraq in the second half of 2008 as well.

That would leave about 10 combat brigades, or about 100,000 U.S. troops, in Iraq by the end of the Bush administration.

Reading that, it seems that General Casey's 2005 "worst case scenario" of "well over 100,000" troops over there in 2009 is more or less playing out like a well-oiled machine. I only started this blog in 2005, and this appears to be my first "sometime next year" drawdown post. Recall that in the 2004 election year, calls for bringing home the troops were tantamount to treason.

Since there seems very little reason to assume that I wont be making this post next year, let's officially consider this my First Annual "Troop Drawdown Next Year Announcement" Post. Merry Drawdown Announcement, y'all. Sigh....

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