The Value Of Shutting One's Mouth

The Pentagon thrives on preparedness. They have plans for invading Micronesia, just in case. Everyone is well aware of their many contingencies. That doesn't mean they have to be spoken out loud. It is a huge mistake for George Casey to make these kinds of headlines.

The United States could have fighting forces in Iraq and Afghanistan for a decade, the top Army officer said, even though a signed agreement requires all U.S. forces to be out of Iraq by 2012.

Gen. George Casey, Army chief of staff, said Tuesday 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.

People read that in Iraq and the Muslim world and suspect that the occupiers will never leave. And who suffers? Our troops, as rage at the occupiers grows.

I have no doubt that there are worst-case scenarios where troops remain in Iraq. But we have a signed bilateral agreement that mandates our departure, and treating that like a piece of paper really harms our effort over there. Iraqis cannot be expected to act in good faith while the military can set up their own rules.

Bob Gates needs to clean this up.

...let me be clear, I don't just think we shouldn't say we're staying, I don't think we should stay, either. Our presence allows the major factions to resist reconciliation.

Army Chief of Staff urges exact same policy as the Webb amendment

The biggest story of the story IMO happened in the House Armed Services Committee. While the Senate was off passing pipe dream partition plans that nobody in Iraq actually wants, and the rest of the House was passing two more months of a blank check for Iraq, Robert Gates asked for $190 billion more in spending for Iraq and Afghanistan. But Army Chief of Staff George Casey was there as well. And his plea sounded extremely familiar.

General George W Casey told the Congressional Armed Forces Committee that it was imperative soldiers had longer breaks from battlefield duty to reduce the psychological and physical toll on manpower and family life.

Has a ring to it, doesn't it? In fact, it's fleshed out by this Washington Post story that predictably landed on page A15 today.

Army Chief of Staff George W. Casey Jr., who is scheduled to testify today before the House Armed Services Committee, intends to move as quickly as possible to grant soldiers more relief from the war zone, having argued that the troop rotations of 15 months in combat and 12 months at home -- required by the buildup of U.S. forces in Iraq and the conflict in Afghanistan -- are "not sustainable" for the Army [...]

"The Army . . . is trying very hard to reduce the amount of time deployed versus the dwell time back in the United States, trying to get to a 12-month deployment to a 12-month dwell time back at home station," said Maj. Gen. Richard Sherlock, director of operational planning for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing yesterday.

Hmm... dwell time... one-to-one relationship of time deployed to time at home... I know I heard this somewhere, just give me a sec...



Right! So Jim Webb's amendment is the entire basis for the stated policy of the US Army, and the Chief of Staff testified in an open session that it was imperative that the Webb amendment be made permanent military policy.

Incidentally, this shows John Warner, who switched his vote on the Webb amendment because he was "told by the military" that it wasn't sustainable, to be completely full of shit.

Gen. Casey and Army Secretary Pete Geren, who is also scheduled to testify today, have spoken frequently with lawmakers in recent weeks to inform them about the strain on the Army and the need for continued funding to rebuild the main U.S. ground force after four years of warfare have depleted its manpower and equipment.

Casey and other members of the Joint Chiefs have made no secret of their concerns about the stress imposed by the troop buildup. "Now we're 15 out, 12 back. And that's not sustainable," Casey said at a forum earlier this month. "I do not want to go beyond 15 months on the ground for the soldiers, and I want to get to more than a year at home as rapidly as we can," he said. Asked whether he thought the troop increase was working, Casey, who until this spring served as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, replied: "It remains to be seen."

For some reason, the Democrats have taken no for an answer and moved on to other blank check funding and MoveOn condemnation (I'm told the Congress will shut down temporarily until MoveOn runs another ad, for fear that they'll end up with nothing to talk about). But this testimony made it very clear that the Webb amendment is the ONLY solution to an Army that is well past the breaking point.

"No one can disguise the fact that the Army's ability to project forces is nil. They are not ready for full spectrum combat and it's recognized now," said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

This is not only because of manpower, but equipment. We give huge outlays to giant corporations for cost-plus, no-bid contracts, but what we haven't done is fund replacement parts and repairs for equipment that's been used non-stop for the last four-plus years, both from the military and the National Guard. The Army is actually toast, thanks to this disaster. And the ability to confront any potential crisis throughout the world doesn't exist.

Yet the Democrats have simply stopped trying to put something as sensible as readiness on the front burner, despite the ARMY BEGGING FOR IT.