It is sad when our troops are being pushed and pulled around as if they are chess pieces in some political game. But that is exactly what is going on right now.
It all starts with the question: are we seeing a cut in troops being sent to Iraq? Reuters says that the US is delaying the deployment of 3500 troops to Iraq. The 3500 troops are currently based in Germany.
Does this signal the start to troop pullouts? Don't get too excited.
The United States has about 133,000 troops in Iraq. The decision to hold back this brigade does not immediately cut the U.S. force, but a reduction would come in July if this unit does not arrive to replace another one scheduled to rotate home at that time.
Also, the AP says the Pentagon plans on sending more troops in August and September.
The Army said the move has little impact, as yet, on plans to send four other combat brigades to Iraq in August and September.
The next paragraph shows that the Pentagon officials were hedging their bets
But officials also did not rule out decisions in the coming months that could keep some of those units at home, and lead to a substantial reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq just before the November congressional elections.
Notice what I highlighted? Yeah, that's the playing politics with our troops part. Republicans know that the Iraq War is unpopular. So what are they going to do? They're going to make a cosmetic move that won't do much to Iraq policy but make it look like they're doing something.
And it looks like pulling out right now won't be in the best interest of what we are trying to do. At this point, we are in Iraq to stop it from devolving into chaos (let's suspend the argument that it is already there). Before you say it, no, the police forces in Iraq aren't ready to do their jobs correctly.
Sending the troops into Iraq on false pretenses was horrible. Playing politics with their deployment patterns once they are there is deplorable.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
U.S. troops have already been there for a few years and not much progress has been done. Your right that they are just playing with it like they are pieces in a game. The government needs to think about our troops and our country and stop worring about the government of another country!