The US army is being stretched, by its deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan, into a "thin green line" in danger of breaking before the insurgents are defeated, claims a report commissioned by the Pentagon.
Andrew Krepinevich, a former army officer who wrote the report, said the army could not sustain the current pace of deployments -- which was likely in the end to discourage recruitment.
"This is the central, and as yet unanswerable, question the army must confront. Vigorous efforts should be made to enable a substantial drawdown in US force levels. The army ... cannot sustain the force levels needed to break the back of the insurgent movement," the report says.
Krepinevich, who runs a Washington thinktank, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, also suggested the administration lacked a clear strategy.
In his report presented as "an interim assessment" of Iraq, he writes: "Without a clear strategy in Iraq it is difficult to draft clear metrics for gauging progress. This may be why some senior political and military leaders have made overly optimistic or even contradictory declarations regarding the war's progress."
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said he had not read the report, but said from what he heard of it "it's just not consistent with the facts."
Rumsfeld said that there were 1.4 million Americans currently in active service, of which only 138,000 were in Iraq. He said the army was in the process of being streamlined to create a more agile and combat-ready force.
However, a group of senior Democrats issued their own report yesterday accusing the administration of President George W. Bush of putting "our ground troops under enormous strain that, if not soon relieved, will have highly corrosive and potentially long-term effects on the force."
The report, presented by Senator Jack Reed, the former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright and Bill Clinton's first defense secretary, William Perry, called for an increase in deployable army forces of at least 30,000 troops. It argued there was a danger that the US' enemies could exploit its vulnerable state.
"Although the US can still deploy air, naval and other more specialized assets to deter or respond to aggression, the visible overextension of our ground forces could weaken our ability to deter aggression," it said.
Rumsfeld rejected that claim, saying: "The force is not broken ... It is not only capable of functioning in a very effective way. In addition it is battle hardened. It is not a peacetime force that has been in barracks or garrisons."
At another point this report says the US has "only limited groundforce capability ready to respond to other contingencies. The absence of a credible strategic reserve in our groundforces increases the risk that potential adversaries will be tempted to challenge the US."
More than 70 percent of the troops due to be deployed in Iraq next year will be returning for a third time. Krepinevich argues that such continual deployments will take their toll on army readiness.
In a chapter in his report entitled "Thin Green Line," he writes: "If it rotates its troops too frequently into combat, the army risks having many of its soldiers decide that a military career is too arduous or too risky an occupation for them and their families to pursue."
He begins the chapter with a quote from an unnamed army officer returning from Iraq who says: "Nobody in the US is asked to sacrifice, except us."
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability