More U.S. soldiers shifting to suppoprt Iraq missions.

U.S. commanders have begun shifting the mission of military forces in Iraq by moving more troops out of front-line combat and into assignments that allow American soldiers to monitor and support Iraqi units, senior military leaders said Thursday. In their changing capacity U.S. troops increasingly will be positioned to back up Iraqi forces in a role that commanders outlined in recommendations in September and have termed "over-watch." Under the recommendations, the overall U.S. troop level in Iraq will be reduced from about 165,000 to about 130,000 by July. One combat brigade already has left Iraq. By Juilian E. Barnes , Los Angeles Times.

A lot has change in Iraq in the last six months. Six months ago we where talking about bench marks to measure the progress in the war. In July 2007, it looked like out of the 18 bench marks we would have 8 satisfactory, 8 unsatisfactory and 2 mixed. The Democratically controlled House of Representatives voted 223-201, on July 11th, to require most U.S. troops to leave Iraq by April 1, 2008. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) accused Bush of a strategy "to keep our troops in an open-ended war-- a civil war in Iraq. I'm calling on my Republican colleagues to not just say the right thing but to vote the right way so we can give our troops the strategy they deserve." It's a good thing we don't run a war by committee. The founders of our constitution knew their could be only one Commander in Chief and that is the President. Bush said " I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding our troops. Bush was right and the Democrats were wrong.