The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs will report to Congress that we MUST reduce the Army combat tours from 15 to 12 months and provide longer periods between combat tours and his position is in agreement with the Army CoS.
This puts our top military leaders at odds with a policy that we continue troop strength in Iraq at anything close to the 130,000 levels Bush and McCain support. In addition it does not appear our NATO allies are willing to increase their troop commitments in Afghanistan which presents another argument that says we must divert more of our troops from Iraq to Afghanistan.
This will squarely put the position of McCain on Iraq at odds with BOTH the majority of Americans and our top military leaders. The reality is clear; we MUST significantly reduce our troop levels in Iraq for the long term healthy of the Army and to provide the added manpower needed in Afghanistan. The position of the Democrats meets the needs of the Army as Congress will be told by the Chairman of the Joint chiefs!