- WASHINGTON -- Republicans
in the US Congress have ditched a flat ban on women in combat.
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- The House Armed Services Committee watered down proposals
which would stop women from serving in support teams which back up front-line
combat troops.
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- Advocates of the plan say the women get too close to
the fighting, but the US army, facing problems with recruitment, was opposed
to the move.
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- Senior officers said they would have had to pull 22,000
female soldiers out of their jobs to replace them with men.
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- They also warned of damage to morale, with the army's
vice-chief of staff saying in a letter that the plan "would cause
confusion in the ranks".
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- No front line
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- Women who serve in the US army are barred from fighting
on the front line under rules drawn up by the Pentagon a decade ago.
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- But in Iraq, the US is fighting an insurgency - which
means there is no front line.
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- About 9,000 women are serving in Iraq and 35 have been
killed.
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- Combat can happen anywhere at any time, and women have
frequently been caught up in it.
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- Republican committee members wanted to pass a measure
which would keep women out of units "forward support companies"
in the army, closing off jobs which provide maintenance, medical services
or supplies to the front line.
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- The army is deeply opposed to the measure. Underlying
the army's opposition are the problems it is having recruiting new troops.
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- For the last three months, the army has failed to meet
its recruiting targets. At the moment it looks set to miss its annual target
by 15%.
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- © BBC MMV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4560847.stm
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