Ten troops killed in last two days; "How Fast Can the Troops Leave?"

[ProSense]

August 5 - 6 troops killed: 10

The World

Iraq Withdrawal: Five Difficult Questions

By BILL MARSH
Published: July 29, 2007

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Here are five questions that any administration — this one, or its successor — will have to answer as part of an exit from Iraq.

How Fast Can the Troops Leave?

Large numbers of American soldiers have left a modern war zone, but never so many from a still-hostile region.

Analysts agree that most would be airlifted, a far safer path than Iraqi roadways. (But many more soldiers would be needed to protect convoys of equipment that can only travel on the ground.)

<...>



Can Departing Soldiers Be Shielded From Attack?

Troops concentrated in convoys that are transporting huge quantities of supplies out of Iraq make tempting targets. In the south, British forces have been attacked by militants as they pull back.

“We’re probably going to get stuck fighting our way out,” said Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, especially in a rapid withdrawal. Mr. Biddle gives the current increase in troop levels a limited chance of successfully stabilizing the country, but it will take perhaps two years, with more casualties in the meantime. Hence the calculation: Withdraw with casualties now, or risk a better exit in a few years? How great is that risk?

Who Stays Behind?

There are up to 100,000 Iraqi contractors, perhaps more, working for the United States. After a pullout, many of them could be at risk from reprisals by anti-American forces.

<...>

So far, few Iraqis — either contractors or refugees — have been allowed to immigrate to the United States. The State Department has said thousands could potentially be resettled here in 2007. According to a bipartisan group of senators seeking special status for Iraqi refugees, only 63 have been admitted this year.

What to Take? What to Leave? What to Destroy?

After more than four years of buildup, the American footprint in Iraq is enormous. There are more than 75 major bases:

Some have their own retail stores, with products from magazines to luxury goods like large-screen televisions for purchase by soldiers. There are grocers, fitness clubs and fast-food outlets, in addition to the usual military infrastructure. Besides bases, there are hundreds of smaller sites for storage, ammunition and fuel.

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Airlift most out and have the rest fight their way back to Kuwait. Six months tops!

Wouldn't it be something if the insurgents (Iraqis) let the U.S. leave without putting up too much of a fight?

Remember they're not terrorist, they just want their country back. The foreign fighters would be a bigger problem, but there only about 2,000 of them.

The lessons of Vietnam

[truedelphi]

1. Certainly the troops cannot leave as fast as Congress got its ass in gear for

Their extended vacation

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Well, they can leave very quickly...

When packaged in 1 (one) Mark 1/Mod 1 Military Coffin. So I guess you can say that dear leader is working to get them out.

[thunder rising]

3. Remember the line from "We Were Soldiers Once"

"We can't get out. As soon as they see live soldiers getting on those choppers he'll get what he wants. He'll get his massacre."

This is just a grander scale. They'll have to assume they will fight their way out.
The remark about the insurgents can't be assumed, since it might be the last chance to kill an American.

Multiple paths must be determined. Mine detectors must clear paths once again through the desert. Since old mines are nearly as effective as new ones. Temporary bridges must built. Burn what you're not taking and run like hell. Retreat is serious business.

[ProSense]

4. It's called an exit strategy!

Isn't it strange how they can fly members of Congress in and out of Iraq to shop and stroll Baghdad but have every excuse for why the troops can't leave?

[tabasco]

6. What are you talking about?

Do you know what an MSR is?

Do you get all you info from war movies?

You think we went to Baghdad through the desert and have to go back out through the desert?

LMAO!!

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Three or four of these soldiers were from Ft. Richardson

here in Anchorage. That makes 52 deaths from there since they were deployed last fall. It's shameful.

[pretty_lies]

7. This Is Very Simple. We Get Out In Three Days.

Every last American and Brit, every soldier, every contractor, every diplomat, gets into the nearest available vehicle and drives to Kuwait.

Anything that can't be carried - blow it up or leave it. Whoever ends up running the anthill might find that crap useful, who knows.

There is a problem with force protection, I suggest a random draft of registered Republicans and pro-war Democrats to be paradropped along the supply lines. We won't be able to get these people out unfortunately, but their country will remember them fondly.

We will also have a few million Iraqi refugees who collaborated with the invaders and are at risk. I suggest re-settling all these people in Texas, because the Republicans love bringing democracy to Iraqis so much.



...Of course, this entire "we can't get out quickly" debate is a fake one.

The USA will never voluntarily leave the spoils of Iraq.

The Democrats will not end the war - indeed, Hillary seems set to escalate it.

The USA will be _driven_ out by concerted Iraqi resistance.

[ProSense]

8. Twenty troops killed in last five days; "How Fast Can the Troops Leave?"

August 2 - 6 troops killed: 20

[leftchick]

9. they are not going anywhere

you don't spend billions on bases and an embassy for oil and then leave it.

[ProSense]

10. Wes Clark: six-eight months

On the logistical side, there are 162,000 troops. If you just loaded them on airplanes, minus ALL their equipment, you could fly that many people out of Baghdad in - let's just approximate some numbers - 300 troops per aircraft average, a takeoff every 20 minutes, so 900 per hour, times 24 hours, so roughly,20,000 per day, or maybe a week and a half to fly everyone home. Of course, that's with nothing but their clothes on their back....if you start adding in what they should bring home, it adds up to several million tons of stuff that has to be moved, staged, and transported. If everything else just stopped, and we did nothing but backhaul, then maybe you could get out in six-eight months, plus a few more months for the clean-up of the sites. But everything won't just stop....

Wes Clark

Staying in Iraq will only worsen the situation and prolong the inevitable. There is no military solution to Iraq's civil war. Period.

[Clark2008]

11. Thank you for posting that.

My husband's a former Army Ranger. He told me a long time ago it would take months to get everyone out - and that's just logistically speaking. It has nothing to do with our obligations for blowing up their entire infrastructure, which we WOULD have to stay and repair.

[ProSense]

12. The military doesn't repair infrastructure!

They also don't do political reconciliation.

[ProSense]

14. Kick! n/t

[ProSense]

13. Kick! n/t

[blarbushie]

15. kick

:kick:

[blarbushie]

16. How Fast Can the Troops Leave?

How Fast Can the Troops Leave?

Large numbers of American soldiers have left a modern war zone, but never so many from a still-hostile region.

Meanwhile the idiot has left his duties. Bush out to lunch, on vacation.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Six months? Fuck that shit.

The brits evacuated 300,000+ men from Dunkirk in a few days, and that was with the English Channel in the way and a much more capable opponent then guerillas.

It'd take a few days to get out of Iraq. Tops.