Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
December 1, 2006
Pg. 11
After withdrawal, combat forces could be moved to nearby countries
By Tom Vanden Brook and Matt Kelley, USA Today
WASHINGTON — U.S. troops pulled from Iraq as suggested by the Iraq Study Group could be based in friendly countries nearby to provide a quick reaction force in case serious violence erupts, military experts say.
The remaining troops would be stationed in Baghdad, along Iraq's borders and as trainers for the Iraqi military and police, said Michael Eisenstadt, a Middle East military expert who advised the panel but has not read the report.
According to two people who have seen it, the report will recommend a gradual withdrawal of most of the 70,000 combat forces now in Iraq.
If the troops are withdrawn, the Bush administration would decide when, how and where to move them. Bush appeared to reject the idea of a withdrawal on Thursday after meeting in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The United States would need to leave some of those troops in the region to prevent or respond to armed attempts to overthrow Iraq's government, says James Jay Carafano, another adviser to the study group.
“You need the capability to go in surgically, below the radar, and get the bad guys. You have to have that capacity still in the region,” says Carafano, a defense analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. “You want to have something that has a subtle but visible reminder that the Americans haven't left town.”
The Pentagon would have several options for keeping combat troops near Iraq, including existing bases in nearby Kuwait and Qatar. Marine Corps troops and Navy aircraft could wait aboard their ships in the Persian Gulf, as well.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military officers also have resisted calls for withdrawing U.S. troops. They have said for the past three years that American forces will begin leaving when Iraq's own police and military can control the country.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, repeated that view in a Pentagon news conference Wednesday. Pace denied reports that the Pentagon was considering pulling most of the American troops out of Iraq's Anbar province, a majority Sunni Arab region where insurgents linked to al-Qaeda operate.
“Why would we want to forfeit any part of Iraq to the enemy? We don't,” Pace said. “We want to provide security for the Iraqi people.”
Anbar province has been the scene of violent fighting, as Marine units in the region have taken heavy casualties in October and November.
The bipartisan group's report will help Americans understand the situation in Iraq, even if the Bush administration rejects its suggestions, says Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University in Washington.
Hoffman, another study group adviser, said the report “forces us to take a hard look at the progress to date or the lack thereof.”
Proposing a withdrawal of most combat troops from Iraq risks failing to satisfy U.S. war critics and those who support sending more troops for a stronger crackdown on violence, says military analyst Stephen Biddle.
Having fewer U.S. troops could open the door to more chaos, and focusing on training Iraqi forces could prop up one side in an eventual civil war between Sunni Arabs on one side and Shiites and Kurds on the other, he said.
“It would be unfortunate if U.S. force structure in Iraq would be an artifact of ideological positioning in the United States,” says Biddle, a former assistant professor at the U.S. Army War College. “There needs to be a military objective for them to pursue that makes sense.”
Contributing: Barbara Slavin
December 1, 2006
Pg. 11
After withdrawal, combat forces could be moved to nearby countries
By Tom Vanden Brook and Matt Kelley, USA Today
WASHINGTON — U.S. troops pulled from Iraq as suggested by the Iraq Study Group could be based in friendly countries nearby to provide a quick reaction force in case serious violence erupts, military experts say.
The remaining troops would be stationed in Baghdad, along Iraq's borders and as trainers for the Iraqi military and police, said Michael Eisenstadt, a Middle East military expert who advised the panel but has not read the report.
According to two people who have seen it, the report will recommend a gradual withdrawal of most of the 70,000 combat forces now in Iraq.
If the troops are withdrawn, the Bush administration would decide when, how and where to move them. Bush appeared to reject the idea of a withdrawal on Thursday after meeting in Jordan with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The United States would need to leave some of those troops in the region to prevent or respond to armed attempts to overthrow Iraq's government, says James Jay Carafano, another adviser to the study group.
“You need the capability to go in surgically, below the radar, and get the bad guys. You have to have that capacity still in the region,” says Carafano, a defense analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. “You want to have something that has a subtle but visible reminder that the Americans haven't left town.”
The Pentagon would have several options for keeping combat troops near Iraq, including existing bases in nearby Kuwait and Qatar. Marine Corps troops and Navy aircraft could wait aboard their ships in the Persian Gulf, as well.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military officers also have resisted calls for withdrawing U.S. troops. They have said for the past three years that American forces will begin leaving when Iraq's own police and military can control the country.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, repeated that view in a Pentagon news conference Wednesday. Pace denied reports that the Pentagon was considering pulling most of the American troops out of Iraq's Anbar province, a majority Sunni Arab region where insurgents linked to al-Qaeda operate.
“Why would we want to forfeit any part of Iraq to the enemy? We don't,” Pace said. “We want to provide security for the Iraqi people.”
Anbar province has been the scene of violent fighting, as Marine units in the region have taken heavy casualties in October and November.
The bipartisan group's report will help Americans understand the situation in Iraq, even if the Bush administration rejects its suggestions, says Bruce Hoffman, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University in Washington.
Hoffman, another study group adviser, said the report “forces us to take a hard look at the progress to date or the lack thereof.”
Proposing a withdrawal of most combat troops from Iraq risks failing to satisfy U.S. war critics and those who support sending more troops for a stronger crackdown on violence, says military analyst Stephen Biddle.
Having fewer U.S. troops could open the door to more chaos, and focusing on training Iraqi forces could prop up one side in an eventual civil war between Sunni Arabs on one side and Shiites and Kurds on the other, he said.
“It would be unfortunate if U.S. force structure in Iraq would be an artifact of ideological positioning in the United States,” says Biddle, a former assistant professor at the U.S. Army War College. “There needs to be a military objective for them to pursue that makes sense.”
Contributing: Barbara Slavin