Generals say plans won't work in field
By Toby Harnden and Alex Massie in Washington| Pentagon generals believe that the Iraq Study Group's military recommendations are unrealistic. If American combat troops were pulled out before Iraqi security forces were capable of battling the insurgency alone it would be courting disaster, according to defence sources. Retired officers who served as military advisers to the group said they were not consulted about the final recommendations. A separate internal Pentagon policy review is expected to be more cautious about likely timescales. The prospect of all US combat troops being withdrawn by the first quarter of 2008 was described as impractical by Gen Jack Keane, a retired US Army chief of staff and an adviser to the group. "Based on where we are now, we can't get there." Gen Keane, who was speaking to The New York Times, said the report said more about "the absence of political will in Washington than the harsh realities in Iraq". Gen Barry McCaffrey, who is also retired, told the newspaper that there was a danger that embedded trainers would be kidnapped or killed. "They [the group] came up with a political thought but then got to tinkering with tactical ideas that in my view don't make any sense. This is a recipe for national humiliation." Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, a retired US Army commander who also served as a civilian in Iraq, said that while increasing the numbers of US trainers and embedding them throughout Iraqi units was a "really good idea" it would probably take a year before combat troops could begin to be pulled out. Mr Bush is expected to select a general to oversee the training effort. A number of conservatives in Washington have called for generals to be replaced and both Gen John Abizaid, commander of US forces in the Middle East, and Gen John Casey, commander in Iraq, are due to leave their posts in the coming months. |
No comments:
Post a Comment