Abizaid Doesn't See Drawdown Until Spring

This is from The Los Angeles Times:

WASHINGTON -- No drawdown of troops in Iraq will likely be possible until next spring, the top American commander in the Middle East said today.

Gen. John Abizaid, the head of the U.S. Central Command, said that six months ago he would have predicted that two brigades--about 7,000 soldiers--could have been withdrawn by now. But rising violence and the difficulty in forming a permanent Iraqi government have scuttled those plans.

"We clearly did not achieve the force levels we had hoped to. Why is that? Part of it is that the sectarian violence got worse and part of it is the development of the security forces," Abizaid said.

The Iraq war has been growing increasingly unpopular with the American public. And as the November elections inch closer, Iraq has become an ever more divisive political issue.

Earlier this year Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, told the White House that he hoped to withdraw troops this fall. But the rising numbers of murders and attacks in Baghdad have convinced American and Iraqi leaders that they needed to beef up military forces, particularly in the capital.

After a series of small reductions at the beginning of the year, the number of soldiers and Marines in the country has again begun to increase. There are now 147,000 troops in Iraq, an increase of about 20,000 since June.

"I think that this level will probably have to be sustained through the spring, then we will reevaluate" Abizaid said. "I think these are prudent force levels, they are achieving their military effect."

Does anyone see the irony here? The Pentagon and Bush White House have been talking about possible troop drawdowns for this fall, and the congressional midterm elections. But instead of troop drawdowns, the Pentagon has increasing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq by 20,000 to a current number of 147,000 troops. Instead of pulling troops out of Iraq, the Bush administration has been putting more troops into Iraq, while publicly talking about troop drawdowns.