"Major Assaults on Hold Until After U.S. Vote"

Unfreakingbelievable. I've witnessed four years of lying, cheating, misrepresenting, venality, corruption, bigotry, incompetence, and just-plain-stupidity on the part of these people, and I STILL can't believe it when they blatantly use American institutions and now even use war and the lives of our military for political gain. THEY HAVE GOT TO BE STOPPED.

The Bush administration plans to delay major assaults on rebel-held cities in Iraq until after U.S. elections in November, say administration officials, mindful that large-scale military offensives could affect the U.S. presidential race.

Although American commanders in Iraq have been buoyed by recent successes in insurgent-held towns such as Samarra and Tall Afar, administration and Pentagon officials say they will not try to retake cities such as Fallouja and Ramadi — where the insurgents' grip is strongest and U.S. military casualties could be the highest — until after Americans vote in what is likely to be an extremely close election.
   
"When this election's over, you'll see us move very vigorously," said one senior administration official involved in strategic planning, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Once you're past the election, it changes the political ramifications" of a large-scale offensive, the official said. "We're not on hold right now. We're just not as aggressive."

Any delay in pacifying Iraq's most troublesome cities, however, could alter the dynamics of a different election — the one in January, when Iraqis are to elect members of a national assembly.
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For 138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq trying to break the will of a deadly insurgency, that means understanding — and sometimes bending to — the needs of U.S. politics and the demands of their Iraqi hosts.

EVERY VOTE COUNTS.