I noticed when I saw the thread title that it was a "small" increase but that it was actually rather large percentage wise. In short Jackson50 is pretty much in line with my thinking on this issue, it is a step in the right direction but it's still not enough to meet the needs we have there imo and, iirc, is actually less than half of what was requested by the commanders on the ground.
I recognize that many of the folks who were really involved with his campaign probably won't be happy with the move either way which is why I think he should have done it right or not at all...but maybe he honestly thinks this is enough, which if he does I really disagree that it is. Still, I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt given his access to the information but only going with half of the recommendation seems like he was trying to hit the exact right number rather than what I think is the far more important goal of making sure we have at minimum the right number (ie err on the high side to make sure you don't under-staff).
The big benefit for him of aiming high is in the fact that he can figure out what is excess over the next 6 months and he gets to bring some troops home once the "proper" amount is determined in the field rather than trying to guess it in some policy meeting. This gives him the opportunity to play up the fact that they are having success now that Afghanistan is properly staffed and that they can already scale back as a result.
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