Thread: Troops leaving, what happens next?

I am not surprised by this article...

Iraqi General Babikir Zebari: Army Not Ready for US Troops to Leave

Iraqi General: Army Not Ready for US Pullout

Updated: 5 hours 18 minutes ago

(Aug. 12) -- On the same day the White House declared that the U.S. pullout plan from Iraq is "on target," Iraq's top army general took to a podium in Baghdad to announce that Iraqi forces are nowhere near being able to secure their country once full story »

(Aug. 12) -- On the same day the White House declared that the U.S. pullout plan from Iraq is "on target," Iraq's top army general took to a podium in Baghdad to announce that Iraqi forces are nowhere near being able to secure their country once American soldiers pull out next year.

Lt. Gen. Babakir Zebari estimated Wednesday that it will be another 10 years before Iraq's military is able to cope without help from U.S. forces.

"If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: The U.S. army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020," Zebari told reporters at a Baghdad news conference. His comments were carried by London-based Channel 4 News and several other media.
Orlin Wagner, AP
Iraqi Lt. Gen. Babakir Zebari, here in 2007, says Iraqi troops need reinforcement from American forces for another decade.


Zebari's assessment came on the same day the White House issued assurances that Iraqi troops are up to the task. President Barack Obama huddled behind closed doors with his national security team Wednesday, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs emerged to tell reporters that the U.S. pullout plan is "on target."

Obama is "satisfied with the progress we continue to see on the security side," Gibbs said at a White House news conference, according to The Hill newspaper. "There will be a new mission. We'll have a new commanding general. And the Iraqis will fully be in the lead."

Washington is handing over military responsibility for Iraq to the Baghdad government by the end of this month, in line with Obama's withdrawal plan. The number of American troops is being drawn down to 50,000, from a high of more than 150,000 in 2007. The remaining forces are left in a noncombat role, mostly training Iraqi troops, until 2011 when they're due to leave the country altogether.

"At this point, the withdrawal is going well, because they are still here," Zebari said. "But the problem will start after 2011 --the politicians must find other ways to fill the void after 2011."

Violence has plummeted in Iraq since the height of its sectarian killings in 2006 and 2007. But the number of Iraqi civilians who met violent deaths rose sharply last month, according to The Guardian. Iraqi politicians have also failed to agree on the formation of a new government after inconclusive elections in March, creating a political void into which insurgents could step.

The head of the U.S. military's training program for Iraqi troops, Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero, acknowledged the Iraqi side's limitations. Speaking at the same news conference alongside Zebari, he said Iraqi troops should be able to hold their own against insurgents or other internal threats, but that they're unlikely to be able to defend Iraq against possible attacks from other nations. Iraq and neighboring Iran fought a long war in the 1980s, and tension between the two remains high.

"If America withdraws its forces and one of the neighboring countries causes problems, then we're going to have a problem," Zebari said without mentioning Iran specifically, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Barbero said some kind of U.S. military presence will likely have to remain in Iraq long after 2011. "Not a huge force, just three or four bases," Zebari said in agreement.

Back in Washington, a top Obama administration adviser elaborated on that idea, suggesting that "dozens" or even "hundreds" of American soldiers could remain in Iraq under the authority of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

"We'll be doing in Iraq what we do in many countries around the world with which we have a security relationship that involves selling American equipment or training their forces, that is establishing some connecting tissue," Anthony Blinken, a national security aide to Vice President Joe Biden, told reporters, according to Al-Jazeera. "When I say small, I'm not talking thousands, I'm talking dozens or maybe hundreds; that's typically how much we would see."

While the White House has stood behind its withdrawal plan, Obama appears to have left the door open to the possibility of a small U.S. military contingent staying in Iraq long after the official pullout is complete.

"The hard truth is, we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq," the president said in a speech Aug. 2. "But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing -- from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats."

Yes, all quite true. But keep in mind that if you are rifted and given 'the word', that's it. You are back on your own out there in civilian life fending for yourself no matter how much you loved to stay in. All you can claim is veteran status. That is indeed a hard row because you have wasted your years for nothing, at least that's the way it was when I was in. In most professionell Armies around the world that have RIFs, they have some sort of 'going out program' for those being released. On the other hand, the US Army is by far the best paid Army in the world. Thus, it is a sin not to save money while you are in and defend against such an event as a RIF. Unfortunately, few US Army soldiers (or other Americans) do. Most want to 'live now not later' and squander their money on useless stuff. Story: A MSGT in a section I supervised left after 20 for retirement. When he said good bye to me he had nothing but a boom box under one arm his loundry bag in the other and a wrecked Porsche I knew he owned money on. Besides that, he had an illegitimite child with a German girl.

Well the last unit has left, bringing the end to the Iraq war or "Operation: Iraqi Freedom"


US Military: Last Combat Unit Leaving Iraq | News | English