Polls continue to show that Americans, for the most part, do not want to send additional troops to Iraq, and many believe Congress should cut the purse strings. A new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Media shows that 61 percent oppose an increase in US forces for Iraq. It also shows that within that majority, some 43 percent want lawmakers to withhold money to fund such an increase.
U.S. Southern Command recently announced its first lethal strike on a suspected narco-trafficking vessel in two months, and the first under a newly formed permanent counter-cartel task force. The U.S. is also reportedly planning to transfer MQ-9 drones to Colombia to bolster its counter-cartel efforts.