![]() |
|
Tags for This Article:
Iraq War (2154) Earth-Gaia (1153) Bush Iraq Surge (554) Military War Strategy (234) Health Care- Veterans (90)
|
Add to My Group
The National Intelligence Council recently released its January 2007 report "Prospects for Iraq's Stability: A Challenging Road Ahead" providing a bleak outlook for Iraq's stability. The situation in Iraq is described in the report as far too complex to even be considered a 'civil war'.
The report indicates that unless security conditions are changed within the next 12-18 months the situation in Iraq will continue to deteriorate.
Many articles have been written in past weeks about President Bush's plan to 'surge' the troops in Iraq in hopes that additional training and troops will provide Iraq with the boost needed to get the violence under control. With all due respect to President Bush his plan makes absolutely no sense. We've been there, done that and it hasn't worked. We previously had additional boots on the ground and the increased number of troops did virtually nothing to quell the rising violence in Iraq. More than 300,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have been trained and equipped and they are quite simply ineffective. The reason they are ineffective is partly due to the fact that some members of the ISF are actually contributing to the violence. Although 300,000 have been trained and equipped, fewer numbers are available for duty on any given day. Combat losses, desertion, attrition and leave account for the majority of absences. Adding equipment shortages to fact that many Iraqi units refuse to serve in areas outside their area of recruitment, indicates there are major problems with ISF that will not be resolved in a short period of time. We have been in Iraq since March 19, 2003, just shy of four years and the violence continues to escalate on a daily basis. Do you really think 20,000+ additional troops will turn Iraq into the non-violent democracy needed in the Middle East? Probably not in this lifetime. How much money are you, the average American taxpayer, willing to pay on trial runs in Iraq? The Honorable John M. Spratt Jr. recently requested an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office on funding required for the troop surge (dollar amounts indicated are for fiscal, not calendar, years). To sustain an additional 20,000 troops in Iraq for a four-month deployment the cost would be 13 billion dollars, split as follows - 9 billion in 2007 and 3 billion in 2008 (rounded). A 20,000 increase in deployed combat troops would require 28,000 support troops so we would actually be sending 48,000 troops. If we reduce the number of support troops to a minimal amount the cost would be 9 billion dollars for a four-month deployment - 7 billion in 2007 and 2 billion in 2008. The figures are spread over a period of more than one year due to the fact that a three-month buildup and three-month withdrawal is required for each deployment.
Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people: Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers Richard E Walrath and Patricia L Johnson are co-owners of the Articles and Answers News and Information sites. Articles and Answers 2007 and
Articles and Answers
Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2008 |
|