"ARMY IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN WORN THIN": TOP MILITARY OFFICER SAYS

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We must get Army deployments down to 12 months as soon as possible. People are tired.”

The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are not the only things that are worn out. Their equipment is in dire need of a complete overhaul.

Adding to the fatigue problem the Army faces in Iraq and Afghanistan is the fact that enlistments are down. The slowdown in enlistments means more members of the National Guard and the Reserves will be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan leaving states throughout the United States vulnerable in case of a major emergency.

Bill Corcoran, editor of CORKSPHERE http://corksphere.blogspot.com/, the blog that brings readers the latest on developments from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Mullen: Army must return to 12-month tours

By Anne Flaherty - The Associated PressPosted : Thursday Feb 7, 2008 22:10:07 EST

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_mullen_080206a/

WASHINGTON — The top uniformed military officer on Wednesday described a tired U.S. military force, worn thin by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and unlikely to come home in large numbers anytime soon.

The assessment comes as President Bush decides whether to continue troop reductions in Iraq — possibly endangering fragile security gains made in recent months — or not, and risk straining ground forces further.

“The well is deep, but it is not infinite,” Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We must get Army deployments down to 12 months as soon as possible. People are tired.”

Mullen’s stern warning swiftly became political fodder for anti-war Democrats, who want legislation requiring that troops start coming home from Iraq immediately. Democrats also want legislation that would require soldiers and Marines spend more time at home between combat tours. The Pentagon objects to both proposals, contending it would tie the hands of military commanders.

The leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said Mullen’s testimony “confirms our warning that the war in Iraq has seriously undermined our nation’s military strength and readiness, and therefore our national security.”

“We need a new direction in our Iraq policy, one that will bring our troops home honorably, safely, and soon,” Pelosi added.

Mullen was testifying with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the administration’s half-trillion dollar defense budget for 2009. Bush is asking for $588.3 billion for the Defense Department, only $70 billion of which would go toward the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The war money is expected to last until early 2009, when the next president takes over.
If the current rate of war spending is a guide, the additional request for 2009 is likely to exceed $100 billion, Gates said. But, he added that he has no confidence in that number, in part because he does not know how many troops will be in Iraq this fall. Also uncertain is whether Congress will approve the $102.5 billion still needed in this budget year, he said.

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