Marines press to remove their forces from Iraq

[ProSense]

Marines press to remove their forces from Iraq

By Thom Shanker
Published: October 10, 2007

WASHINGTON: The Marine Corps is pressing to remove its forces from Iraq and to send marines instead to Afghanistan, to take over the leading role in combat there, according to senior military and Pentagon officials.

The idea by the Marine Corps commandant would effectively leave the Iraq war in the hands of the army while giving the Marines a prominent new role in Afghanistan, under overall NATO command.

The suggestion was raised in a session last week convened by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and regional war-fighting commanders. While still under review, its supporters, including some in the army, argue that a realignment could allow the army and Marines each to operate more efficiently in sustaining troop levels for two wars that have put a strain on their forces.

As described by officials who had been briefed on the closed-door discussion, the idea represents the first tangible new thinking to emerge since the White House last month endorsed a plan to begin gradual troop withdrawals from Iraq, but also signals that American forces likely will be in Iraq for years to come.

At the moment, there are no major Marine units among the 26,000 or so American forces in Afghanistan. In Iraq there are about 25,000 marines among the 160,000 American troops there.

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Six years, $600 billion and the "surge" equals two lost wars

[Botany]

1. Go get 'em Leather Necks

They want to fight the people we need to fight and get home.

[tabasco]

2. No doubt. Leave the Army with the stinking bloody quagmire.

There is a reason the Army senior brass resisted this war more than other services.

They knew they would be left with the steaming pile.

[Strelnikov_]

3. So the Marines are trying to trade off their part of the failing Iraq subsidiary

of the War On Terror^TM.

Wonder if they will be offering the Army options on the next cakewalk war.

As Juan Cole said today:

They feel that they could provide the bulk of the forces needed in the latter country, allowing a more unified command structure. They probably also feel that the Afghanistan enterprise might just have a future.

[Coexist]

4. knr

[gratuitous]

5. Have they asked Rep. Jean Schmidt about this?

According to her, Marines never cut and run; and since she's a right wing Republican chicken hawk, always ready and eager to sacrifice someone else's life to preserve her own, I figure she should know.

[tabasco]

6. Marines no longer in the coalition of the willing.

They want to unass Iraq like the Brits.

[Squatch]

7. Nooooo.

I'm in the Army and I'm trying to get deployed to Ashcanistan.