thedrifter
09-14-07, 10:38 AM
Conway: Iraq exit would take 8 to 28 months
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Sep 14, 2007 10:27:14 EDT
The Marine Corps faces an eight- to 28-month drawdown operation once it receives orders to leave Iraq, the service’s top general said Thursday.
Speaking in Arlington, Va., at a dinner for logistics Marines, Commandant Gen. James Conway said his staff is considering scenarios for egress when the time comes to depart.
According to Conway, the main plans under consideration include: the withdrawal of all personnel and equipment, estimated to take 28 months; a departure that leaves nearly all equipment behind, an estimated eight-month operation; and a hybrid plan that would dispense some materiel to Iraqi forces and take roughly 20 months.
“Any suggestion that they could be out of there by next spring is not feasible,” Conway said.
However, Conway said the Marine Corps cannot continue sustaining troops in Iraq at current levels and the service is “looking at a drawdown sooner or later.”
But echoing statements made by Army Gen. David Petraeus before Congress earlier in the week, the commandant said that Iraq, especially Anbar province, is “better today than it has been.”
He attributed the success in Anbar, which has experienced sharp drops in military and civilian casualties, not to the “surge,” per se, but to the ongoing activity of Marines in the region since 2004.
“The Sunnis now believe that we are not the enemy and that al-Qaida is,” he said.
The Marine Corps has roughly 25,000 members in Iraq, mostly in Anbar.
How and when those troops would leave is a problem being tackled by the deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations, Conway said during his speech.
Again, the planners basically have three options, the general said.
The first plan Conway refers to as the “Vietnam model,” which has the Corps leaving the country while Army forces remain.
“We were out of Vietnam two years before the Army left …I don’t think that’s feasible,” Conway said.
The second brings Marines home at the “same pace” as the Army, which has 115,000 soldiers in Iraq.
But Conway voiced concern over that plan, saying the Marine Corps, as an expeditionary force, lacks the nation-building skills required for this plan.
The third plan would send Marines to Afghanistan, a place Conway says “we’re going to be for a long time.”
After the speech, Conway said his planners are in discussion with the Army regarding the third option.
“We think this has merit and will keep us in the fight,” Conway said.
In his televised speech Thursday, President Bush said he approves of Petraeus’ recommendation to begin bringing troops home from Iraq, starting with the scheduled rotation of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit later in September — roughly 2,200 Marines.
By December, 5,700 Army troops would come home.
And next year, force levels equaling four Army brigades and two Marine infantry battalions would leave, Bush said.
When the reductions are complete, the U.S. will have slightly more than 130,000 troops in Iraq, which was the force level before the surge began earlier this year. Bush said further decisions on additional troop cuts could come in March after Petraeus gives him an update on the Iraq situation.
Ellie
By Patricia Kime - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Sep 14, 2007 10:27:14 EDT
The Marine Corps faces an eight- to 28-month drawdown operation once it receives orders to leave Iraq, the service’s top general said Thursday.
Speaking in Arlington, Va., at a dinner for logistics Marines, Commandant Gen. James Conway said his staff is considering scenarios for egress when the time comes to depart.
According to Conway, the main plans under consideration include: the withdrawal of all personnel and equipment, estimated to take 28 months; a departure that leaves nearly all equipment behind, an estimated eight-month operation; and a hybrid plan that would dispense some materiel to Iraqi forces and take roughly 20 months.
“Any suggestion that they could be out of there by next spring is not feasible,” Conway said.
However, Conway said the Marine Corps cannot continue sustaining troops in Iraq at current levels and the service is “looking at a drawdown sooner or later.”
But echoing statements made by Army Gen. David Petraeus before Congress earlier in the week, the commandant said that Iraq, especially Anbar province, is “better today than it has been.”
He attributed the success in Anbar, which has experienced sharp drops in military and civilian casualties, not to the “surge,” per se, but to the ongoing activity of Marines in the region since 2004.
“The Sunnis now believe that we are not the enemy and that al-Qaida is,” he said.
The Marine Corps has roughly 25,000 members in Iraq, mostly in Anbar.
How and when those troops would leave is a problem being tackled by the deputy commandant for plans, policies and operations, Conway said during his speech.
Again, the planners basically have three options, the general said.
The first plan Conway refers to as the “Vietnam model,” which has the Corps leaving the country while Army forces remain.
“We were out of Vietnam two years before the Army left …I don’t think that’s feasible,” Conway said.
The second brings Marines home at the “same pace” as the Army, which has 115,000 soldiers in Iraq.
But Conway voiced concern over that plan, saying the Marine Corps, as an expeditionary force, lacks the nation-building skills required for this plan.
The third plan would send Marines to Afghanistan, a place Conway says “we’re going to be for a long time.”
After the speech, Conway said his planners are in discussion with the Army regarding the third option.
“We think this has merit and will keep us in the fight,” Conway said.
In his televised speech Thursday, President Bush said he approves of Petraeus’ recommendation to begin bringing troops home from Iraq, starting with the scheduled rotation of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit later in September — roughly 2,200 Marines.
By December, 5,700 Army troops would come home.
And next year, force levels equaling four Army brigades and two Marine infantry battalions would leave, Bush said.
When the reductions are complete, the U.S. will have slightly more than 130,000 troops in Iraq, which was the force level before the surge began earlier this year. Bush said further decisions on additional troop cuts could come in March after Petraeus gives him an update on the Iraq situation.
Ellie