Pace and Joint Chiefs will tell Bush to cut forces in Iraq

The battle lines are being drawn between military leaders and the Bush White House. The Joint Chiefs of Staff will tell Bush that it's time to drastically reduce the number of troops in Iraq. Bush wants to stay the course in Iraq even though it's breaking the military:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to advise President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and other military commanders over the course of the war.

Administration and military officials say Marine Gen. Peter Pace is likely to convey concerns by the Joint Chiefs that keeping well in excess of 100,000 troops in Iraq through 2008 will severely strain the military. This assessment could collide with one being prepared by the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, calling for the U.S. to maintain higher troop levels for 2008 and beyond.

Petraeus is expected to support a White House view that the absence of widespread political progress in Iraq requires several more months of the U.S. troop buildup before force levels are decreased to their pre-buildup numbers sometime next year.

Pace's recommendations reflect the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who initially expressed private skepticism about the strategy ordered by Bush and directed by Petraeus, before publicly backing it.

Bush claims to take advice from the military, but that's never been true. His hand-picked guy on the ground, Petraeus, will do exactly what Bush wants next month. And, don't think for a minute that Bush staffers aren't writing the September report. It's just another political document for them.