Why Does The Air Force Time HATE AMERICA!!!!

The rise in sectarian violence in Iraq is causing great bipartisan concern in the Senate, with worries that U.S. troops could be put at great personal risk trying to prevent civil war.

In the short term, increased violence in Baghdad has scuttled hopes of withdrawing significant numbers of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year. That decision, said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, runs the risk of hurting morale of troops and their families.

“I don’t question the seriousness of the situation and the need to do it, but we should have an explanation,” Warner said. “I do not want to see the hopes of our men and women of the armed forces and their families raised and then plans changed.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is next in line to be committee chairman, said the U.S. seems to be playing a game of “whack-a-mole” by moving troops from one hot spot to another while waiting for the day when Iraqi security forces can take over so U.S. forces can leave.

“It is very disturbing,” McCain said. “If it is all up to Iraq’s military, I wonder why we have to move troops into Baghdad for what clearly is sectarian violence.”

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said stopping sectarian violence is a mission for Iraqi forces, not U.S. forces, and it is likely to result from a reconciliation policy as the new government takes shape rather than squashing insurgents. U.S. forces are being redeployed to assist Iraqi forces, he said.

Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, the U.S. Central Command commander, did not try to sugarcoat things. “Sectarian violence is as bad as I have seen it in Baghdad,” he said. “If it is not stopped, it is possible Iraq can slip into civil war.”
[ cf AF Times: Rumsfeld: Iraqi must stop sectarian violence ]