Posted by
Dawnsblood on Sunday, January 14, 2007 7:03:47 PM
For the Times
it is a rather surprising piece. It seems they have finally found a group of people who are not reflexively antiwar and they chose to publish it anyway.
The decision to increase the American military presence in Iraq is
being greeted with a blend of optimism and anxiety among American
soldiers and their families, those most directly affected by the
change. Unlike in Congressional corridors and across the civilian
landscape of the country, there seems far more support than outrage,
more cheer than cheerlessness, and a hope that maybe this will do it.
At the same time, especially among relatives of National Guard
members dispatched to battlefields they never expected to stand on,
there is plentiful disappointment and even anger at the prospect of
prolonged disruptions in lives that have not been normal for a long
time.
The expansion calls for more than 20,000 additional troops,
including five active-duty combat brigades, to be sent to Iraq in the
next few months. Some National Guard units will have their tours
lengthened. The Pentagon has also relaxed the rules for mobilizing
Guard members, so that units will return to battle quicker than
anticipated.