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View Full Version : U.S. to be in Iraq for years



Steve Savicki
07-31-2007, 05:19 PM
http://www.yahoo.com/s/640982

President George W. Bush's nominee to be top military adviser said on Tuesday the United States will be in Iraq for "years not months" and a Pentagon official said the war was costing even more than expected.

Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, picked as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned U.S. lawmakers unhappy with the conflict against seeking a rapid pullout from Iraq, saying it could turn the country into a "caldron."

While prudence dictated planning for an eventual pullout, Mullen said that under one scenario it could take three to four years just to halve the 160,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq. Many Democrats want to pull out combat troops by April.

"I do think we will be there for years, not months," Mullen told the Senate Armed Services Committee at his confirmation hearing. "But I don't see it (Iraq) as a permanent -- you know, on a permanent base at this point."

Mullen, 60, now chief of naval operations, was nominated last month after the Bush administration decided against seeking a second two-year term in the job for Marine Gen. Peter Pace. Defense Secretary Robert Gates concluded that Pace's role in the unpopular Iraq war would have led to overly contentious hearings to reconfirm him.

Based on the warm reception Mullen drew, he appeared headed for approval.

In separate testimony to the House Budget Committee, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said next year's war tab will exceed the administration's existing request for $141.7 billion. That is on top of more than $600 billion in war checks already written for Iraq and Afghanistan, with 70 percent going to Iraq.

Besides needing more money to build and deliver mine-resistant vehicles to repel insurgent attacks, England said Bush's request did not include next year's costs for the extra 30,000 U.S. troops sent into combat this year.

House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, the South Carolina Democrat who must juggle war funding, pay for skyrocketing health and retirement benefits for the elderly and also make the budget deficit vanish, complained, "We're actually spending more and more each year" on the war.

Spratt called it an "ominous indication the costs are continuing to increase."

Mullen said Bush's troop buildup had brought more stability to Iraq but that there did not appear to be much political progress.

"Based on the ... lack of political reconciliation at the government level, obviously ... I would be concerned about whether we'd be winning or not," he said.

Ultimately "no amount of troops" could solve Iraqi political problems, Mullen acknowledged, but he said strategic decisions should wait until U.S. Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus report on progress in September.

Mullen expressed concern about the "increasingly hostile" role played by Iran. He said Tehran supported the Taliban in Afghanistan and was trying to drive the United States out of Iraq but he hoped the issue could be solved diplomatically.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office provided an analysis for long-term war costs. It estimated that if troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were reduced to 75,000 over the next five years and stayed at that level through 2017, it would cost the U.S. Treasury $845 billion over the 10-year period.

"We don't have that sort of assumption," England said of the 75,000 troop estimate. He did not give any estimate of how large a U.S. force would be over the next 10 years.

Whatever the costs, England recently returned from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan saying he saw significant progress.

"Lives are starting to return to normal" in Baghdad and other regions, England said, noting that businesses were "coming to life" and religious leaders were spurning al Qaeda in Iraq. But he also acknowledged continuing "problems."


<i>Did the BCE do anything to even get the time frame down to months?
A blue president sure will change things.
For the moment, feel sorry for those soldiers out there.</i>

bluemustard
07-31-2007, 06:14 PM
I heard it would last another 10 years.
Don't remember where I heard it.
I think some guest on Bill Maher a couple of months ago.
He predicted it.

Life was better with Clinton in the house.
All the news is so much negative energy.
Ready to throw away my TV soon.
Really makes me sick.



:confused:

BITEYOASS
07-31-2007, 06:54 PM
Makes me glad my contract ended. :baaa: Now I'm really an Army of one. But the only weapon I have is a K-bar and I can't find it.

BITEYOASS
07-31-2007, 06:57 PM
I've been ordered to protect my appartment from an enemy known as DFTSMS (Dumb Fucks Trying to Steal My Shit).

Steve Savicki
07-31-2007, 09:09 PM
Originally posted by bluemustard
I heard it would last another 10 years.
Our next president may change that.

Nitro Express
08-02-2007, 01:33 AM
I see it this way. We won the war. We destroyed Saddam Hussain's regiem and gave Iraq back to it's people. So let's leave. It's not our fault that the Iraqi people hate each other and the country falls into civil war. We can blame the following genocide on them. We got rid of the dictator and gave them their country and THEY fucked up. Staying longer only means more US soldiers killed with the same ending.

Eddie's Booze
08-06-2007, 02:58 PM
Originally posted by Nitro Express
I see it this way. We won the war. We destroyed Saddam Hussain's regiem and gave Iraq back to it's people. So let's leave. It's not our fault that the Iraqi people hate each other and the country falls into civil war. We can blame the following genocide on them. We got rid of the dictator and gave them their country and THEY fucked up. Staying longer only means more US soldiers killed with the same ending.

No you didn't....Where is the OIL????......

As long as there is OIL in Iraq, American Troops with be in Iraq.

Have a Nice Day™

:D

BITEYOASS
08-06-2007, 05:07 PM
Originally posted by Nitro Express
I see it this way. We won the war. We destroyed Saddam Hussain's regiem and gave Iraq back to it's people. So let's leave. It's not our fault that the Iraqi people hate each other and the country falls into civil war. We can blame the following genocide on them. We got rid of the dictator and gave them their country and THEY fucked up. Staying longer only means more US soldiers killed with the same ending.

I guess wants us there longer so that Apocolypse fantasy of the religious Reich can get started.