U.S. General Won't Rule Out Iraq Extensions

[Spazito]

WIESBADEN, Germany - Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday he could not rule out keeping soldiers from the 1st Armored Division in Iraq (news - web sites) beyond a previously announced three-month extension.



"I think it is unlikely, but in the end we are going to have to do what is needed to be done — never say never," Myers told reporters during a visit to Wiesbaden, where the 1st Armored Division is based.


Soldiers from the division were to have begun returning to Germany in April, but had their tour extended because of a surge in violence in Iraq.

snip

He said he had no plans to meet Col. Thomas M. Pappas, the commander of a Wiesbaden-based military intelligence brigade implicated in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=ap/iraq_us_army

[NNN0LHI]

1. What surge in violence in Iraq?

Chimpy said everything was really shaping up over there. Oh, well. Must have just been another lie from the Crackhead In Chief?

Don

[lanparty]

2. This is dumb!!!!

The whole unit "cohesion" thing is a joke. Rotating individual troops IN makes more sense because newbies will always be prepared with people who know their way around. Contrast this to being with a whole company of greenhornes with a Lieutenant that doesn't know DICK about the command structure.

I'm sorry, but they are holding guys over there so they won't come home and tell stories about how FUCKED UP things are over there. They are simply trying to control the message by keeping the messangers locked up in Iraq.

This is SO IDIOTIC. Even in Vietnam, guys got to come home after their 12 months. The military is HURTING it's recruiting by reneging on a fundamental assumption about military service. After a guy does his tour ... HE'S DONE!!!! He gets to come home. Nope, now the tours are ETERNAL. Who wants to enlist when you'll NEVER know when you'll be done.

Don't think for a second that their email isn't being read by intel guys. They simply cannot say some shit except for face-to-face stateside where the military cannot simply END THEM or turn their lives to shit.

Kerry should make this a VERY CLEAR POINT in his campaign. After 12 months, they should come home. After an enlistement has expired, they should COME HOME.

Stop loss orders are designed for cases of NATIONAL EMERGENCY. Iraq simply doesn't qualify. Though, the Bush administration MIGHT!!!!

[Justice]

3. A colleague said to me today re Tenet vs. troops

When hearing of Tenet's resignation to spend more time with his family, she thought - isn't that nice that George just gets to resign, I bet the troops in Iraq would like the option to resign in order to spend more time with family.