Troops may stay longer in Iraq
It was kind of under the radar – I haven’t seen any blaring headlines about it,anyway- but apparently the Iraqis have asked the US to delay sending some combat troops away, according to the Washington Post;
Iraqi and U.S. officials cautioned Wednesday that the country’s precarious political and security situation could yet derail efforts to resolve the issue before the roughly 46,000 U.S. troops in Iraq leave as scheduled by Dec. 31.
Prolonging a final decision could turn the issue into a “physics problem” for the U.S. military if it is pressed to decide which forces and equipment need to stay too close to year’s end, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday in Iraq.
I can’t imagine the media keeping this on the down-low if President Bush was still in office. I had to dig to find this article in a tiny little link halfway down the WP’s front page.
And of course, the amateurs have to weigh in;
“We don’t need a large combat presence,” said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We need Special Forces and perhaps some forces who would be effectively combat troops.”
Yeah, the only reason that Special Forces have been so effective in this war is because they aren’t weighed down with all of the day-to-day heavy fighting in which more conventional forces are engaged. Special Forces aren’t meant for convoy security and taking on large enemy elements – they’re a more surgically-applied force. They aren’t a solution to all of Iraq’s problems and these numbnuts need to get that pounded into their thick heads.
It looks to me like the arm chair generals think they can draw down conventional forces leaving some robot ninja zombies behind and they can shoulder the war because of their larger-than-life reputations. You probably know the stories better than I know about how every time a Special Operations unit fought like conventional forces against a numerically superior enemy, the result was disastrous.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Military issues
“America go home! Iraq for Iraqis! Go home occupier!”
“…oh shit, wait, don’t ACTUALLY go, we need you!”
I do so wish these armchair quarterbacks would take a few minutes to reflect on WHY thee troops are called “Special” Forces. It’s for the “Special” missions, like you say, Jonn.
Um, the link above is about the Army hiring substance abuse councilors.
It is an interesting article. But since Barry O walks on water, do not expect this to get much coverage, even if troops are on the ground past 2013.
Although one might offer niggling arguments about yer last paragraphs, the facts agree with your assessment. The issue is operating as conventional forces, indeed!
This is a whitewash. Slashing conventional forces and (seeming to) support unconventional forces is simply a way to diddle the DOD budget.
Don’t believe DOD can pay to withdraw from Iraq at the same time as Afghanistan while simultaneously waging defeat by Libya and undergoing steep cuts in spending while at the same time paying everyone everything their owed.
There’s not enough sea- and airlift available to do it in the timeframe focused on the 2012 election.
re #5
Exactly right. Little infuriates me more than when people talk about the “inflated” defense budget. The defense budget, largely, reflects the missions we’ve tasked the DoD with. If you want to cut the budget fine, that’s Congress’ prerogative, just don’t cut it and then expect it to keep doing all this heavy lifting.
#3 – sorry, I had several tabs open and misfired. Fixed the link.
#7 John I thought for a second you were telling me to put the beer down. Thank God wee got that cleared up *cracks open another one*
SOF usually can get a pretty high body count, but that requires a certain type of support, and also to remain SECRET. Do you remember when someone leaked that the SEALs were coming ashore and News Crews were waiting on them? Or when Gerraldo told the US public EXACTLY where the troops he was embedded were? SOF tend to get results, and usually insecure men and women in politics want to blats those results all over the news (SEE! we’re bad ass too!). Both sides are guilty of it, but Dems are usually worse. When they’re not in control they’re looking for scandals (Abu Graib, Haditha etc) but when they ARE in control woe be to the Operator. If you remember after Bin Laden got killed, Adm Mullen and Gates had to practically BEG the WH not to reveal too much. How much you wanna bet there’d be a Fatwa calling for the deaths of the SEALs and their families? How much you wanna bet some gang banger wannabe that found Allah in prison would try to take that up?
They don’t know what Special Forces are or what niche they and other Special Operations units were created to fill. He confused the Green Berets with the Green Lantern Corps.
This has been a rumor for awhile though. The idea of something like a reinforced Mech Division has been floating around since 08′. We’re most likely looking at something between 15,000-25,000 troops, 3-4 brigades, based at strategic airfields(most likely Balad, Biap, and the one outside Mosul), performing somekind of internal overwatch and foreign deterence(Iran). Those numbers most likely also cover USAF air support/lift, logistics, advisors, and assorted Special Operators.
May? Might?
25ID has already been extended indefinitely beyond the DEC 31 2011 deadline.