Gates Says Iraq Force Might Be 100,000 by End of 2008

It's official: the administration says the American be damned, we're staying put. It doesn't matter what "progress" they make in Iraq, U.S. troops are not being brought home. Then what was the surge about? It obviously wasn't about strengthening the Iraq government and military so they could take over. The answer is, it is about conquest; including taking control of that oil, as Greenspan pointed out:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates today said that the U.S. force in Iraq might be reduced to about 100,000, or 10 combat brigades, by December 2008.

Gates, responding to questions at a Pentagon press conference, stressed that he was expressing a hope, not outlining a plan.

President George W. Bush said last night he would follow the advice of General David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and withdraw about 5,700 U.S. troops by the end of the year and about 30,000 by next July. That would return the force level to about 130,000, where it was in July before Bush ordered a buildup.