American commander: US on the road out of Iraq

[Peacetrain]

By CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press Writer Chelsea J. Carter, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 56 mins ago

BAGHDAD – The U.S. military is packing up to leave Iraq in what has been deemed the largest movement of manpower and equipment in modern military history — shipping out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment from tanks to antennas along with a force the size of a small city.

The massive operation already under way a year ahead of the Aug. 31, 2010 deadline to remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq shows the U.S. military has picked up the pace of a planned exit from Iraq that could cost billions.

The goal is to withdraw tens of thousands of troops and about 60 percent of equipment out of Iraq by the end of next March, Brig. Gen. Heidi Brown, a deputy commander charged with overseeing the withdrawal, told The Associated Press in one of the first detailed accounts of how the U.S. military plans to leave Iraq.

Convoys carrying everything from armored trucks to radios have been rolling near daily through southern Iraq to Kuwait and the western desert to Jordan since President Barack Obama announced the deadline to remove combat troops, leaving up to 50,000 troops under a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement until the end of 2011.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_iraq_moving_out

[mdmc]

1. We won!

Bush sure was bold for overthrowing Iraq!

[jaxx]

2. Yes!!

It is finally happening.

[SpartanDem]

3. It sure is

[create.peace]

4. "The U.S. military also plans to shrink the contractor force from roughly 130,000 to

between 50,000 and 75,000 by September 2010. Those remaining would pick up additional duties from departing troops, Brown said."

a definite buzzkill