- The Pentagon is sending a retired four-star general to
review the military operation in Iraq, amid growing fears among officials
that the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the existing
US force structure almost to breaking point.
-
- The mission of General Gary Luck, a former commander
of American forces in South Korea, follows a stream of alarming news about
the effects of the military deployment in Iraq, where no end of the occupation
is in sight and US casualties relentlessly increase.
-
- The deaths of nine servicemen on Thursday - seven of
them in one roadside bombing in Baghdad - bring the total of US forces
killed since the invasion of March 2003 to more than 1,350. A further 10,000
have been wounded, many of them maimed by such bombs. Even more worrying
for Pentagon planners, however, are manpower strains that have led to reserve
and National Guard units having to serve extended tours in Iraq. These
account for 40 per cent of the US force in the country, increased to 150,000
in an attempt to improve security ahead of the 30 January elections.
-
- The extra demands already amount to what critics call
a "backdoor draft" of so-called "citizen-soldiers"
who never imagined having to spend long periods in the field but now find
themselves in key positions. If anything, the burden on them looks set
to increase.
-
- According to The Washington Post yesterday, the army
wants to change Pentagon policy to enable even heavier reliance on some
reserve units. They would be subject to an unlimited number of call-ups
that could last for up to 24 months apiece.
-
- In all, the Army Reserve consists of 200,000 men. But
in a leaked memo to Pentagon chiefs, written just before Christmas, General
James Helmly, the reserve's commander, warned that his men were "degenerating
into a broken force" that would be unable to meet commitments if other
emergencies arose. As for the National Guard, an official told the Post
that its 15 main combat units were "close to tapped out". The
strains have not only depressed morale but led to a sharp fall in recruiting
by both the reserve and the National Guard. It now looks likely that the
30,000 increase in active duty troops to cope with Iraq will have to be
made permanent, at the cost of $3bn (£1.6bn) a year to the army budget.
-
- Apart from American troop levels, General Luck will also
focus on the shortcomings of the home-trained Iraqi forces, who US commanders
had hoped would be able to provide security for the elections, but have
signally failed to do so.
-
- Despite everything, President Bush remains defiantly
optimistic, insisting not only that the elections will go ahead as scheduled,
but would be "such a credibly hopeful experience for the Iraqi people".
Speaking to reporters yesterday, he took strong issue with a bleak assessment
this week by Brent Scowcroft, his father's national security adviser, of
developments in Iraq - that the elections risked "deepening the conflict"
and worsening tensions between the Shia and Sunni populations.
-
- "Quite the opposite," Mr Bush declared.
-
- Equally gloomy was Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security
adviser under President Jimmy Carter. "If [the US mission] cannot
be changed drastically, it should be terminated," he warned at the
same meeting addressed by Mr Scowcroft. It would require 500,000 troops,
$500bn and a return of the draft.
-
- The Pentagon is already starting to reshape its $400bn
budget to cope with the new demands.
-
- ©2005 Independent News & Media (UK) Ltd.
-
- http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=598809
|
