NYT: If Iraq collapses, what do we do with our 130,000 U.S. troops?

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

A first question for the United States if a general collapse of order seemed to be in the offing would be what to do with its 130,000 troops in Iraq. "We would probably have to get out of the way," said Larry Diamond, who advised the American occupation in Baghdad in 2004 and is now a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. "We wouldn't have nearly enough troops to quell the violence at that point. At a minimum, we'd have to pull back to certain military bases and try to keep working the politics."

Modern civil wars have been resolved by negotiations, but only after they were deepened by the intervention of outsiders. Internal conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the late 1990's led to intervention by troops from Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia. The Balkan wars erupted after the breakup of Yugoslavia earlier in that decade, first in Bosnia and later in Kosovo. The power-sharing arrangements that were worked out remain precarious, backed up by NATO troops.

In events closer to Iraq, more than 15 years of civil war in Lebanon ended when Syrian troops took on the role of reinforcing a peculiar arrangement that distributes certain high offices among the country's sectarian groups. Even the West at first welcomed the Syrians as a stabilizing factor — until last year, when they withdrew under European and American pressure.

BUT Iraq poses a threat that dwarfs these problems. The pivot of what could become a regional conflict is almost certainly Iran. Shiite leaders close to Iran won the Iraqi election in December, and although American and many Iraqi leaders defend their Iraqi nationalist bona fides, a civil war would almost certainly drive them to seek help from Iran. That stirs Sunni Arab fears of Iranian dominance in the region.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/weekinreview/26weis.html?hp&ex=1140930000&en=2a65044182e129ea&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. You mean after we cut and run out to

the carriers from the rooftops of the Green Zone?

[BigYawn]

2. We move our soldiers to surround all oil fields?

[yourout]

16. You beat me to it..........if there was no oil there this would be Ruwanda

[Zensea]

3. Send them into Iran

Isn't that obvious?

[leftchick]

4. The Iraqi Puppets want US Tanks in the Streets....

This is where the shit hits the fan just as Rep. Murtha predicted.....

<snip>

The gravest crisis since the U.S. invasion in 2003 threatens Washington's hopes of withdrawing its 136,000 troops from Iraq.

"If there is a civil war in this country it will never end," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi, a minority Sunni Muslim in the Shi'ite-led interim government, told a news conference.

"We are ready to fill the streets with armored vehicles."

Iraq's 200,000-plus, U.S.-trained security forces have few tanks but U.S. forces, which routinely patrol Baghdad with heavy armor, are also standing by, commanders said. The loyalties of the untried police and Iraqi army could be tested in any clash with militias from which many were recruited.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc

[LynnTheDem]

5. choppers off the Green Zone roof

[Minnesota Libra]

6. We can always pluck our troops off a hotel roof like......

.....we did in Viet Nam.

[Gman]

7. I've been saying since Day #1 of this God forsaken war

that the last day in Iraq will be identical to our last day in Saigon.

[kentuck]

8. That was the "deal".....Hadn't you heard....

They were going to be based in UAE...so they could stay in the area. That was the tradeoff that is top secret. Shhh-hhh ...Don't tell anybody...

[leveymg]

9. Laid back, behind glass like that, one can almost see how he'll look

They'll tone down the smirk, a bit.

Ah, Iraq, yes . . . civil war and division into three chewable pieces was always the plan. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/23/13411/1965

[Disturbed]

10. 50K Troops will be sent back to the USA.

This has already been in the planning stages. The rest will go to Kuwaite or hunker down in those permanent Iraqi bases. As long as the Bush Regime is in power there will be troops and mercs in Iraq.

[leveymg]

14. 50K enough for a bunch of fine parades with GOP VIPs.

Nah, the rest are staying in Iraq, where they'll be sitting ducks if they do the big dumb, boom boom next door.

[Richard Steele]

11. Halliburton will happily provide 130,000 body bags at 1000% markup.

And, there is no "if" Iraq collapses. It's already collapsing.

Iraq is not "on the brink" of civil war;
it is in the EARLY STAGES.

[Capn Sunshine]

12. Are you sure this isn't the last throes?

:nuke:

when is anyone gonna hold Cheney accountable for the countless lies that he has spewed since 1999?

In the interests on expeditiousness, we're letting pre- 1999 lies slide for the moment.

[FloridaPat]

13. They can let the ones out that are stopped gapped. Most of the

GW1 people are on disability. I would imagine the claims should be starting shortly. That would leave us with no military anywhere.

[leveymg]

15. We've been colonized. The Bushes are here to strip our bones

and auction the carcass. They won't pay the claims. So, we should make them pay. See, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=516634&mesg_id=516634