Opinion - Editorials   

An exhausted force

With Iraq’s ethnic groups and the parties representing them showing few signs of reconciling their differences, the occupation forces serve merely as a buffer. The question being asked with increasing intensity is whether these forces can continue to perform this role for much longer. The troops of the United States Army and Marine Corps are clearly exhausted after six years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some of them have gone through as many as four tours of active duty, with the periods back home for rest and recuperation getting shorter at the end of each cycle. At the time the invasion of Iraq was launched it was envisaged that all soldiers would spend 18 months in peace stations for every year they served in the combat zone. Today, the deployment pattern is the other way round. Many of the troops are beginning to find that a year is not enough to get over the trauma or deal with the pressures building on their personal relationships. While monthly recruitment targets are being met, there has apparently been a drastic slippage in the re-enlistment rates of junior officers. There are also signs that commanders at the battalion and sub-battalion levels have begun to question the tactical approach favoured by their superiors. At least a couple of Colonels have gone public with their criticism of a high command that contains a large number of officers who have never experienced combat and are hence not fully in tune with the travails of the troops who actually do the fighting.

Generals in Washington are gradually veering towards the conclusion that this state of affairs is unsustainable. They have indicated that deep cuts in the forces deployed in Iraq would be necessary by the end of March 2008 if the U.S. military are to remain an effective all-volunteer institution. The Generals who are directly in charge in Iraq contend that the reduction in troop strength should be marginal. They argue that the partial pacification achieved in the past month or so will not endure if deployment levels are reduced drastically. However, the ultimate decision is likely to be a political one. While President George Bush appears determined to keep his forces in Iraq at the highest possible levels for as long as he can, a growing number of Congressmen can see the futility of the exercise. Although Iraqi leaders ensconced in the American-protected enclave in Baghdad have once again promised to work for reconciliation, the reality is that the country has become a patchwork of sectarian enclaves over which the central government has little control.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Moving towards a consensus
An exhausted force
Howard and the Haneef case
Dryland farmers and climate change
Two years on: life still tough in the Big Easy
Poles furious at German ‘war booty’ claim
Enjoying being 60
Corrections and clarifications
Shameful act
‘We are like that only’
Intelligence failure

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu