Slate's Today's Papers reports on conflict within the Bush Administration over troop levels in Iraq:
The Wall Street Journal leads its world-wide newsbox, and the Los Angeles Times fronts, Defense Secretary Robert Gates telling a Senate panel that he wants to resume troop withdrawals quickly. The statement came hours after President Bush officially backed Gen. David Petraeus' plan to indefinitely halt any further troop withdrawals after this summer, a story that leads the New York Times and Washington Post. "I've told him he'll have all the time he needs," Bush said while also emphasizing that the war "is not endless."
and
Gates made sure to note that although he no longer thinks the number of U.S. troops in Iraq will fall to 100,000 by the end of the year, "the hope, depending on conditions on the ground, is to reduce our presence further this fall." A similar sentiment was expressed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Although these divisions within the Pentagon are well-known, "rarely have they been aired publicly," says the LAT.
The President and our commander in Iraq seem to support one thing while the Secretary of Defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff support another. A consequence of a large decentralized executive branch perhaps?