General David Petraeus and Ryan Crocker met with the President on Monday to hand over their recommendations for the rest of the year's war in Iraq. Among those, is the recommendation to extend the escalation of troops through the end of 2008 and into the next President's term.

From The NY Times:

But it now appears likely that any decision on major reductions in American troops from Iraq will be left to the next president. That ensures that the question over what comes next will remain in the center of the presidential campaign through Election Day.

General Petraeus, speaking to Mr. Bush by secure videoconference during a two-hour meeting of the National Security Council, recommended putting off decisions on further troop reductions for a month or two after the departure in July of five extra brigades sent last year to help secure the nation, the officials said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about internal deliberations.
...
Referring to the troop increase ordered last year, [Michele A. Flournoy, president of the Center for a New American Security] said, “The only happy ending to the surge is for it to produce some strategic results, which it has yet to do.”

It seems that Bush lied to us again in another State of the Union speech. Just how many times have these lies happened in the past seven years? I think, too many to count. Certainly too many to stomach.

From the 2008 State of the Union:

Our objective in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made in 2007, while transitioning to the next phase of our strategy. American troops are shifting from leading operations, to partnering with Iraqi forces, and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission. As part of this transition, one Army brigade combat team and one Marine Expeditionary Unit have already come home and will not be replaced. In the coming months, four additional brigades and two Marine battalions will follow suit. Taken together, this means more than 20,000 of our troops are coming home.

On the day before Bush was deciding to kill another 1000+ soldiers, he was doing this:

That last picture creeps me the eff out.