[Peace-discuss] Obama's campaign lie exposed
C. G. Estabrook
galliher at illinois.edu
Tue May 26 17:50:05 CDT 2009
"Casey reiterated statements made by civilian and military leaders that the
situation in Afghanistan would get worse ... 'There's going to be a big fight in
the South,' he said ... 'Anything you put in there would be in there for a
decade,' he said."
Army chief says US ready to be in Iraq 10 years
By TOM CURLEY, Associated Press Writer – 18 mins ago
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as
long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that
would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said
Tuesday.
Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said the world remains dangerous and
unpredictable, and the Pentagon must plan for extended U.S. combat and stability
operations in two wars. "Global trends are pushing in the wrong direction,"
Casey said. "They fundamentally will change how the Army works."
He spoke at an invitation-only briefing to a dozen journalists and policy
analysts from Washington-based think-tanks. He said his planning envisions
combat troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade as part of a sustained U.S.
commitment to fighting extremism and terrorism in the Middle East.
Casey's calculations about force levels are related to his attempt to ease the
brutal deployment calendar that he said would "bring the Army to its knees."
Casey would not specify how many combat units would be split between Iraq and
Afghanistan. He said U.S. ground commander Gen. Ray Odierno is leading a study
to determine how far U.S. forces could be cut back in Iraq and still be effective.
President Barack Obama plans to bring U.S. combat forces home from Iraq in 2010,
and the United States and Iraq have agreed that all American forces would leave
by 2012. Although several senior U.S. officials have suggested Iraq could
request an extension, the legal agreement the two countries signed last year
would have to be amended for any significant U.S. presence to remain.
As recently as February, Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterated the U.S.
commitment to the agreement worked out with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"Under the Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to
remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011," Gates said during an
address at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. "We will complete this transition to
Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home with the honor that they
have earned."
The United States currently has about 139,000 troops in Iraq and 52,000 in
Afghanistan.
Obama campaigned on ending the Iraq war as quickly as possible and refocusing
U.S. resources on what he called the more important fight in Afghanistan.
That will not mean a major influx of U.S. fighting forces on the model of the
Iraq "surge," however. Obama has agreed to send about 21,000 combat forces and
trainers to Afghanistan this year. Combined with additional forces approved
before former President George W. Bush left office, the United States is
expected to have about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of this year.
That's about double the total at the end of 2008, but Obama's top military and
civilian advisers have indicated the number is unlikely to grow much beyond that.
Casey said several times that he wasn't the person making policy, but the
military was preparing to have a fighting force deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan
for years to come. Casey said his planning envisions 10 combat brigades plus
command and support forces committed to the two wars.
When asked whether the Army had any measurement for knowing how big it should
be, Casey responded, "How about the reality scenario?"
This scenario, he said, must take into account that "we're going to have 10 Army
and Marine units deployed for a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Casey stressed that the United States must be ready to take on sustained fights
in the Middle East while meeting other commitments.
Casey reiterated statements made by civilian and military leaders that the
situation in Afghanistan would get worse before it gets better. "There's going
to be a big fight in the South," he said.
Casey added that training of local police and military in Afghanistan was at
least a couple years behind the pace in Iraq, and it would be months before the
U.S. deployed enough trainers. There's a steeper curve before training could be
effective in Afghanistan, requiring three to five years before Afghanis could
reach the "tipping point" of control.
He also said the U.S. had to be careful about what assets get deployed to
Afghanistan. "Anything you put in there would be in there for a decade," he said.
As Army chief of staff, Casey is primarily responsible for assembling the
manpower and determining assignments. He insisted the Army's 1.1-million size
was sufficient even to handle the extended Mideast conflicts.
"We ought to build a pretty effective Army with 1.1 million strength," Casey
said. He also noted that the Army's budget had grown to $220 billion from $68
billion before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He said the Army is two-thirds of the way through a complete overhaul from the
Cold War-era force built around tanks and artillery to today's terrorist-driven
realities. The Army has become more versatile and quicker by switching from
division-led units to brigade-level command.
Casey said the Army has moved from 15-month battlefield deployments to 12
months. His goal is to move rotations by 2011 to one year in the battlefield and
two years out for regular Army troops, and one year in the battlefield and three
years out for reserves. He called the current one-year-in-one-year-out cycle
"unsustainable."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090526/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iraq_6
More information about the Peace-discuss
mailing list