Armchair military tacticians - would it really take an entire year to

[hedgehog]

get out of Iraq? How long if we set charges on everything we can't carry and just bug out?

[rodeodance]

1. a Gen who did the First Gulf war said it would take a year or two to get them

out safely (and the equipment------which we have added and added and added)

[hedgehog]

2. Screw the equipment - it's all ruined with the sand anyways.

Blow it up and bug out - how long would it take?

On edit - how long did it take Patton to disengage his troops from one front and march them north to the Battle of the Bulge?

[defendandprotect]

3. When you stop the flow of money . . .. you'll find out how quickly we can get out of Iraq -- !!!!

Equipment?
They just shipped in new armor for humvees -- didn't fit -- useless.
Must have been a "Bush" crony company that made them -- !!!

Where are the investigations on Halliburton and KBR -- ???
Stop paying them and they'll be leaving quickly.

Warner was to REAUTHORIZE THE WAR . .. .!!!!!

What we have to do is DEAUTHORIZE THE WAR AND STOP THE FLOW OF $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ --

[Solo_in_MD]

4. It depends on what you are willing to leave behind in terms of a Government and US material

[hedgehog]

5. Does anyone here seriously believe that the Army and Marines

won't demand new equipment anyways? Blow up what we don't want anyone else to have and LEAVE. It worked out fine when we left Viet Nam.

[Solo_in_MD]

7. Demand new equipment?

We are wearing stuff out faster than it can be replaced...

Seriously, there will some high level decisions made about what are the parameters to determine take or leave.

The Vietnam example is not appropraite or applicable.

[hedgehog]

8. If it's worn out, why bother trying to bring it home?

I remember seeing pictures of helicopters getting pushed off the decks of ships when we left Viet Nam. It may have been during the final evacuation. Is there a single piece of equipment that worth someone's eyes, someone's hands, someone's legs, someone's life?

[Solo_in_MD]

9. Wear is oneof the parameters that will be used

There would be others, including sensitivity, if its economically rebuidable, etc.

Vietnam was a retreat under fire. Iraq hopefully will not be a repeat of that.

[bemildred]

6. No. A couple months maybe.

Anyone intelligent would negotiate it. I would expect the Iraqi resistance would be happy to allow us to leave on any terms we like, as long as we leave and don't dick around.

[leftofthedial]

10. nowhere near a year

unless they still believe the US cannon fodder are making the place "safe"

more likely, it would take the war profiteers a year to bundle up all their loot and the soldiers can't leave until then.

[sanskritwarrior]

11. Pretty close

160,000 troops............

How many Military airlift flights is that.......

How many RORO ships are there to ship home the vehicles, tricons, and all other assorted gear.......

How many sensitive items will have t be destroyed in place?

How much explosives will that need?

How many units can you disengage per month.....

Most SERIOUS military analysts are correct when they say 10-18 months........That's about how long it would take.......

[bemildred]

12. This is my favorite Iraq withdrawal plan:

The Plan: The National Command Authority orders all US forces redeployed out of Iraq within one month and out of the theater in two months. Any commander that fails to meet the deadline will be summarily relieved, and replaced with a commander that will thereby be placed on a shorter timeline. I can promise anyone who has no experience of the military that this is perfectly feasible, and that with that kind of command emphasis, the mission can and will be accomplished.

Here, of course, is where we discern the liberal pre-occupation (pun intended) with "overseeing" disengagement and other such poppycock. Oh Gasp! they will delcare. What then will become of these simple-minded brown people who want nothing more than to drink each other's blood? At the end of the day, a liberal can be every bit as much the white nationalist as any rock-ribbed Republican Confederate. They really believe that the United States is the beacon of civilization because we have sitcoms and theme parks, and that the brutality of the US military occupation is an aberration -- the antithesis of our true nature. Under all this verbiage is plain, Anglo-American Kiplingesque white supremacy. Remember the "white man's burden to civilize the dark races?"

Tom, here is a delivery from the cluetrain. Iraqis were doing algebra and astronomy when some of our European anscestors still believed that a bath would leave you vulnerable to evil spirits -- number one clue. Having smart bombs doesn't make you smarter. It just makes you meaner. Get over your chauvinist self. Number two clue -- the primary catalyst for the intensifying violence in Iraq right now is... the US military presence. Tom, you say this yourself later on in your proposal, which only makes this protracted and abstracted "disengagement" thing all the more remarkable.

http://www.counterpunch.com/goff08252005.html