Study: Withdrawal Possible Over a Year

[unhappycamper]

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno salutes as he enters Forward Operating Base Loyalty in south-east Baghdad, Iraq on Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. Odierno, the top day-to-day commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said this month that all five brigades probably would be out of Iraq, and not replaced, by August 2008. That would take the troop total back down to roughly 132,000. It is not clear how much lower the total might go by the time Bush leaves office in January 2009. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)


Study: Withdrawal Possible Over a Year
BARRY SCHWEID | August 29, 2007 05:07 PM EST


WASHINGTON — Most U.S. troops can be withdrawn safely from Iraq in roughly one year and the Bush administration should begin planning the pullout immediately, according to a study released Wednesday.

With the exception mostly of two brigades of about 8,000 troops who would remain in the touchy Kurdish region in the north for a year to guard against conflict with Turkey, the U.S. troops would be moved to Kuwait initially, says the study by the Center for American Progress, a self-described "progressive think tank" headed by John D. Podesta, a former chief of staff to former President Clinton.

A brigade and an air wing of some 70 to 80 planes would remain in the Persian Gulf country indefinitely. Meanwhile, the withdrawal would give the United States leeway to add 20,000 troops to the 25,000 in Afghanistan trying to counter Taliban and al Qaida forces.

How fast the troops depart from Iraq and go home depends largely on how much essential equipment goes along with the withdrawal, according to the study.

The troops could be out of Iraq in no more than three months if the equipment is left behind, a course not proposed in the study.


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uhc comment: I'll take option B. Most of the equipment is worn out, much the same as our men and women. Let's get the important stuff and come home.