Abizaid has requested more forces

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) -- U.S. Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid has requested more forces for Iraq and was discussing plans Friday with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a senior defense official confirmed.

Abizaid told reporters in Iraq he wanted several thousand more troops, and indicated they may come from the 3rd Infantry Division, which only returned from its last Iraq deployment six months ago.

Pentagon officials said it was unlikely the 3rd ID would be called up so quickly.

The senior defense official said Abizaid's request was too specific for a warfighting commander to make. The forces Abizaid gets will be decided on by the Joint Staff in Washington. He is supposed to limit his requests to capabilities and Washington decides, based on scheduling and skills and equipment, how to fill those requirements.

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040409-043322-4828r

[jayfish]

1. "Sucked Into The Intake"...

for a war of choice.

Jay

[BostonTeaParty04]

2. Is this like a good cop/bad cop charade?

And Rumsfeld is feigning the good cop? He said this week, "if the commanders in iraq ask for more troops, we will consider it." Wow, pretty coincidental that a commander is now asking for more troops. Uncanny.

And now feigning that 'well, we have to go through procedures and all. We will let Abizaid know the decision when we can.'

Maybe I am just tired, because everything, just everything coming out of this administration strikes me as a total bullsh*t. Well, except for the part about more troops. They will get their troops.

[AussieInCA]

3. sheesh:200 military wounded in 24 hours, 3269 total in combat

"More than 200 U.S. personnel have been injured in combat in the last 24 hours, according to Defense Department statistics.... 3,269 have been wounded in combat since the war began more than a year ago"

[daleo]

11. They must be getting desparate

To let a number like that into the public domain. If that kept up, it would be over a thousand casualties per week. The public will lose its enthusiasm for this criminal war quickly at that rate.

[Sagan]

4. Oh, ho! Did you catch this??

Rumsferatu says that when the generals request more troops, he'll give them more troops, but that none have been requested.

Sooooo.. when THE general DOES request more troops:

"The senior defense official said Abizaid's request was too specific for a warfighting commander to make."

[AussieInCA]

5. Rummy, 2nd guessing due to politics

makes me sick

[Zech Marquis]

16. "too specific for a warfighting commander to make"?!

you can't be serious :argh: Darth Rummy actually said THAT!?

[jmcgowanjm]

20. Why does MacArthur/Truman come to mind

So, w/ Cheney gone to Asia, Bush fishing, is
Rummy in charge?

[ktranz]

6. poor Abizaid

but don't worry, the draft is coming. Soon you will have plenty of toys to play with

[NMDemDist2]

7. wouldn't more bullets do almost as well?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x475663

[Tinoire]

8. Can't afford bullets when we're paying at least 15,000 mercenaries

$300,000/yr so that we can claim "Plausible Denial" when they commit atrocities & break the Geneva convention (which, I may add, does not guarantee them any rights).

===

Mercenaries Make Up Third Largest Military Force in Iraq
Facing a shortage of rested and trained soldiers, the US military is increasingly relying on mercenaries to provide security for key areas of Iraq. An estimated 15,000 "private security contractors" are paid as much as USD $1000 per day, making up a force that is exceeded in size only by British and American contingents. The mercenaries come from varied backgrounds: former secret service agents and former soldiers come from the US, UK, Chile, Nepal, South Africa, and Iraq itself.

Before the invasion of Iraq, "security contracting" has been one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and is estimated to be worth $100 billion per year. Oil companies, aid agencies, and governments have increasingly hired private security firms to protect their interests. Some British observers claim that mercenaries are the UK's biggest export to Iraq.

Other observers have raised concerns that governments cannot be held accountable for the actions of mercenary "subcontractors". In 1989, nineteen countries ratified an addition to the Geneva Convention that banned the use of mercenaries. The US, UK and Canada were among those who did not sign.

http://dominionpaper.ca/international_news/2004/04/06/mercenarie.html

====

The privatisation of war

· $30bn goes to private military
· Fears over 'hired guns' policy
· British firms get big slice of contracts
· Deals in Baghdad, Kabul and Balkans

Ian Traynor
Wednesday December 10, 2003
The Guardian

Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established.

While the official coalition figures list the British as the second largest contingent with around 9,900 troops, they are narrowly outnumbered by the 10,000 private military contractors now on the ground.

The investigation has also discovered that the proportion of contracted security personnel in the firing line is 10 times greater than during the first Gulf war. In 1991, for every private contractor, there were about 100 servicemen and women; now there are 10.

The private sector is so firmly embedded in combat, occupation and peacekeeping duties that the phenomenon may have reached the point of no return: the US military would struggle to wage war without it.

While reliable figures are difficult to come by and governmental accounting and monitoring of the contracts are notoriously shoddy, the US army estimates that of the $87bn (£50.2bn) earmarked this year for the broader Iraqi campaign, including central Asia and Afghanistan, one third of that, nearly $30bn, will be spent on contracts to private companies. :wow:

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4815701-103681,00.html

[54anickel]

19. Saw a post yesterday that Rummy is being asked to explain what

all these security contractors are doing over there. Think Rummy is going to have to do some fast talking. Brooks and Shield discussed this on last nights Jim Lehrer. Seems there is no loveloss for these guys when it comes to Rummy.

[Aidoneus]

9. if that isn't proof of how great things are going

I don't know what is.. :eys:

Keep it up at this rate, the army will put up fiercer resistance to the bosses than the Iraqi resistance is.

[Kool Kitty]

10. How can the Abizaid's request be too specific?

Wouldn't he know best what type of troops he needs? I mean, better than the clotheads in Washington?

Or are we going to hear that Abizaid wants to spend more time with his family, too?

[keithyboy]

12. I thougt he was on yesterday that he didn't need more troops?

Does anyone know what to do in this situation?

[Cooley Hurd]

13. Kick...

...although I'm not hearing any more on Abizaid's request for more troops (assuming the Pentagon dumped this info on a Friday night specifically to bury it).

:kick:

[farmbo]

14. Leave the 3rd ID home and send Paul Wolfowitz and Scooter Libby

They're the unrepentant monsters who lied to get us in to this mess.

And they would scarcely be missed in Washington.

:mad:

[Zech Marquis]

15. I remember the hell raising when the 3rd ID were being kept in Iraq

now some of them will be rushed BACK in Iraq, especially with the entire scheme collapsing as we speak :-(

I hate to say this, but we told them so...

[TcAaNnSaTdAiAaFnL]

17. Of course he made a specific request to the media

Do you think he'd get even half the troops he asked for if he went through proper channels? He knows as well as the rest of us the only way he's going to get the troops he needs is if the American public puts pressure rummy....
so once again we're we're forced to watch the administration say every things going as planned while they ignore their own staff's recommendations only to give in to public pressure when its too late..

Not that he would actually need those extra troops if he wasn't making an enemy of every Iraqi they "liberate" by ignoring civilian casualties

I'm sorry if i seem upset, its because i am, i just keep seeing the same thing over and over again..
reminds me of condi claiming all the documentation they had on terrorist threats within the US prior to 9/11 were "historical documents".. Well what the hell is history for if not to let us learn from the mistakes of the past and build on the achivments... OK maybe that was off topic, but its just more of the same... a complete willingness to ignore any fact that suits them...

[BiggJawn]

18. Rumsferatu: "Uh, John, could you repeat that? You were garbled...."

"...Must be a bad COMMS link, It sounded like you were requesting more troops, and we BOTH know that's not right, RIGHT?..."

[Nyx]

21. From Debka, but certainly relevant

"DEBKAfile's Exclusive Sources: US halts offensives on major warfronts and withdraws from Ar Ramadi, Mosul and Sadr City to stem rising casualties. In Mosul, Iraqi security infrastructure breaks down with Iraqi police and security officers surrendering and handing weapons to insurgent militias, including al Qaeda. White flag movement spreads. Abu Ghraib semi-military airport west of Baghdad overrun by Sunni and Shiite militias."

Much more here:

http://www.debka.com

Scroll down to the article titled "US Troops Pull out of Major Centers as Iraqi Security Forces and Interim Government Buckle."