Clark: "There are three sets of issues in getting out...let's look at each one."

[calteacherguy]

There are three sets of issues in getting out: the logistical, the local Iraqi political security, and the strategic. Let's look at each one.

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....

You have to imagine the psychological and political impact as we leave...at first, there's a dimuntion of violence and casualties....in back rooms and garages, and underground bunkers, the factions are planning and preparing, working to exploit the security and power vacuum that we will leave...They're asking themselves, how is the most effective and safest way to make their power known, and what do we have, as we're leaving *( and weaker on the ground) that they want? So as the drawdown progresses, the risks increase, until, by the end, we're left with a few thousand troops supported by airpower battling their way to Kuwait with their equipment, or clustered around the airport. Politically, what's left of the Iraqi government is unlikely to survive such an exit.

And so, this means that there will have to be polotical arrangements worked inside Iraq, and within the region, that can "cover" the withdrawal of the American forces. Maybe a series of understandings between neighboring states; maybe brokered agreements between factions, witnessed by neighboring states. Maybe there's a role for the Arab League, OIC, or UN.

But all of this has to be worked. And none of it has begun yet.

Al Qaeda will certainly claim to have driven us out, and around the world, Al Qaeda would gain new credibility as a powerful force, and win new adherents, perhaps. And this would have clear implications in Pakistan and Afghanistan...

And in the meantime, countries will be asking, "so, is this the end of America in the Mid East? Should we allow the Americans to continue to base their ships or land their aircraft here, or will that make us the next target? Must we make new security arrangements with other powers? Does this mean the Iranians will have a free hand in Iraq? Must we arm the Sunni's to resist? And the list of questions will go on....

So, all of this should give some pause to those who say, let's just pull out immediately, and demand that the troops come immediately.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/8/10437/18959


I know this is not what a lot of people here want to hear from General Clark, but he's not one to not tell it like it is.

[Sherman A1]

1. Agreed

No, not what we want to hear, but it is indeed a great summation. :thumbsup:

[Disturbed]

3. There will be no Iraqi Pull Out.

The Military might locate more troops to the Northern Iraq & some in the South because the Brits are drawing way down but the Occupation will stay in place until that Oil Deal is signed. Al Q is not the main threat in Iraq as it has been proclaimed to be. The Sunni & Shi'ite Insurgency want all Western Troops out of Iraq, also al Q. It is a political ruse of the majority of Dems calling for an end to the "Iraq War". It is not a war. It is an Occupation. Debating an end to the US Occupation fo Iraq is pointless. There won't be an end for another 50 years, at least. As Gen Clark has stated Islamic Terrorists are not soldiers or enemy combatants; they are criminals & should be dealt with as such.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Where he said

"Al Qaeda will certainly claim to have driven us out" he might at least have mentioned that the USA drove them in there in the first place.

Other than puff in the mainstream media and the general bilge which spews forth from the WH I'm not aware of any other resource noting the significance of them being there anyway

I do of course stand to be corrected on that if anyone can provide me with details of Al Qeada being in Iraq prior to the invasion.

[Clark2008]

5. He's pointed to that fact before.

I'm sorry I don't have time this morning to hunt for a link for you, but he's pointed out several times (I know, I've heard him) say that they weren't there before we went in. In fact, he warned against that before the war even started.

I hope some kind soul provides you a link. I have to take my son to school and go to work.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Good of you to respond

much appreciated:hi:

[grytpype]

4. OH NOES!!!! IMPEACH CLARK NOWWWWW!!!!1!!!!!

MIRACLE ALL THE TROOPS HOME RIGHT THIS MINUTE!@!!!!!

WHY IS HE CAVING IN TO BUSH!!!!!!!!

IMPEACH BUSH CHENEY CLARK PELOSI GONZO REID AND ANY BOIDY ELSE WHO WONT MIRACLE ALL THE TROOPS HOME!!!

rIGHT!!!

NOW!!!!!!!!!!

[Wesin04]

6. This is what you'll get with Wes Clark

The truth. The hard, cold, honest truth. He has no political motive for telling us like it is, but he does have the value of patriotism and wanting to make sure our country does it right and fixes the problems. Unlike what you hear from the candidates spewing the popular mantra of Pull the Troops out NOW,I trust Wes Clark and his plans above all others.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Who is the fucking fool who put us in this predicament

and why is he still president?

Whatever the solution, Bush isn't the man to impliment it, so if we're serious about leaving Iraq, why don't we remove his and his crew out of office so we can start cleaning up this mess?

Two years and six months. If Bush stays in office. That's how long we're stuck in Iraq.

[bvar22]

9. Clark says it will only take 1-1/2 weeks to get ALL the troops home

Sounds good to me.

[Tinksrival]

10. reality bites

But it must be faced. It's real easy for us to sit at our computers and demand "out now". It's so much more complicated and fucked up.
That is why Clark is fighting tooth and nail to get the government and the American people engaged in the steps it will take to get out.
We desperately need leadership that can handle this mess. We have soooo much to do in our own country and as General Clark has stated,
nothing can be done here till WE GET OUT there........AND WE MUST GET OUT.
Not the a-hole president or any of the candidates can articulate what steps we need to do to GET OUT.
except......
CLARK '08

every day I feel like giving up more and more.

I'm so depressed.

[maxsolomon]

11. Gore/Clark '08

experienced realists.

[wiggs]

12. This is reality. But I would want everyone to know about and hold accountable

those who have left our country with only disastrous options at the end of a catastrophic and criminal adventure.

THERE IS NOT NEARLY ENOUGH DISCUSSION BY PUNDITS, JOURNALISTS, AND DC DEMS ON THE TOPIC OF WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INITIAL BAD DECISION AND THE FACT THAT WE ARE IN A NO WIN POSITION and that hundreds of thousands of deaths and generations of hatred are among the costs. They have consistently passed on the opportunity (and duty) to ascribe fault. This is sick.

Such a discussion would have led directly and immediately to impeachment. Instead, blame and the world's contempt belongs to all of us.

[nealmhughes]

13. " And none of it has begun yet" is the crux of the matter.

It is quite clear that General Clark has no dog in the fight at all, save trying to arrange peace and protect lives, both Iraqi and US. Sometimes the truth is harsh and unwelcome, but the truth as he (and myself by extension) see us in the situation Jefferson lamented, namely, the "wolf by the ears" re: slavery. Fast forward to 2003, and now to 2009, when a new administration takes office and a brand new congress.
Are the politicos merely hoping that peace will suddenly erupt or else that enough will die to the point that resistance will, indeed, be futile, what with no electricity or potable water in the country? Are the Iraqis just waiting for the deus ex machina to be lowered from above to save them all? Not going to happen.
The BushCo/AEI/PNAC/Heritage crowd have screwn us royally, and the people of Mesopotamia and it will take a very, very long time for us to recover from this fiasco. There is a reason that the Ottomans did not protest very much at the loss of their Arab villayets at the Paris Peace.
Now we find ourselves in a war of revanche that was then proven to be nothing but innuendo. . . a war with an unseen "enemy" as it seems that the enemy is rapidly becoming all who deal with the dialy horrors of a country without security, basic needs such as food, water, power, or jobs, 2 million of the citizens in Syria and war drums still being beat by Turkey against the Kurds, the most stable area of the state.
What in the world did Bush fils mean? What is the humane way to solve the problems he will leave upon the table as he does whatever it is old coke head drunk business failures do?

[Disturbed]

14. Bushoini speaks the truth once in a while.

He said that the US Occupation will be the next Pres. problem. The Dems are on board with that. The US Occupation will hold for decades unless the Shi'ites, Sunnis & Kurds rise up and demand with force to end it.