Rumsfeld: 3rd Infantry to leave Iraq soon

[cspiguy]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-09-troops-to-return_x.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which played a central role in capturing Baghdad in April, is beginning a pullout from Iraq, and the entire unit will be back in the United States by September, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday.

(snip)

Thank God these men and women are getting out of that mess - but this signal even further evidence of the lack of objective reality at work in pentagon planning? Do they really think things are winding down and by fall can be handled by bluehelmets?

[Randi_Listener]

1. UN intervention

Has a deal been cut at the UN for peacekeeping troops to arrive by the time the 3rd ID leaves? If not, won't we then be severely undermanned? If we do a full widthdrawl from Iraq, I'd look for Hussein to return to power within a year.

[NickB79]

16. EXACTLY!

From what I've read, we're effectively out of Army divisions to rotate into Iraq to replace the ones they want to bring home. So who the hell is going to police the area? Hello anarchy and fundamentalist Islamic rule, compliments of Bush and Rummy.

[NormanConquest]

2. 3rd Infantry: Rumsfeld to leave office soon!

nt

[Augspies]

3. He must have been reading the 3rd's web forum.

Some of those wives were pissed, and talking about going to Washignton.

The absolute last thing the Admin wants are pissed off Military wives protesting in front of the Pentagon.

Jeremy

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. so now Iraq is someone else's problem?

I'd say bin Laden couldn't be happier with the way things are going.

[AnnabelLee]

5. I'm suspicious

This article says Reichsmarshal von Rumsfeld expects "thousands of international soldiers" to be in Iraq by late summer/early fall. There is a story about NATO in the LBN that mentions the word "autumn", but says that NATO is saying that the US has made no request for help yet. Are the "international soldiers" Rumsfeld refers to the token expendables being sent by coalition of the billing members, or has a deal already been struck with NATO on the QT?

This article is so full of self-aggrandizing & responsibility-evading statements I'm ready to:puke:

[OrdinaryTa]

8. The Hessians Are Coming

U.S. soldiers are being replaced by conscripts from other nations in exchange for hefty amounts of foreign aid. Hired soldiers are generally not effective. The British used to replace their troops in Ireland with criminals, the notorious "Black and Tans". The Iraqi people will respond about as well as the Irish did. Or, for that matter, about as well as the American colonists responded to the Hessians.

[ze_dscherman]

21. Not me!

I actually am Hessian by birth.

[htuttle]

6. I would be shocked if the UN/NATO just walked into this mess

I don't think the UN or NATO will be willing (as a body) to take over peacekeeping in Iraq until Bush is out of office.

Bush's administration staff are the ones who made it 'personal' to the rest of the world's leaders. I think they'll ultimately rue the day they did that.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. So this is an admission there are no WMD's

and BTW where's Saddam?

[reprobate]

19. BTW where's Saddam?

Having dinner with Osama

[0007]

22. Charles Taylor & Pat Robertson

are the guest speakers at this dinner.

[Dirty Hippie]

9. Aren't they the group that the wives

in Fort Stewart almost rioted over? 800 pissed off women can be pretty frightening.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. 800 votes Bush wants

take this as Bush wavering to an impromptu "poll".

[Merlin]

11. New US troops will replace the 3d Infantry. Guaranteed.

There's no way they will turn this over to non-American third world "coalition" of the billing members. That would mean certain chaos and an Ayatollah government in Iraq before election day '04. There's no way NATO or any of the 1st world countries will rush in to save Bush from his own insolence. He broke it. He bought it.

So not too many days from now, there will be an announcement that some other US unit or units will be sent to Iraq. Stay tuned.

[NickB79]

17. But what units do we have left?

Do we even have any more soldiers trained and ready to be deployed? The US military seems to be spread pretty thin already.

[htuttle]

18. Well, there's always the Texas Air National Guard...

I'm sure they haven't been sent anywhere overseas yet.

[lanlady]

12. to be replaced by 8000 guns for here?

That's the no. of international troops being trained in Poland for Iraq duty.

Let me tell ya--as someone who is part Polish and has spent time in Poland--East Europeans are openly and extremely bigoted where Muslims and non-whites are concerned. I doubt very much that the Catholic sons of Poland will warm up to the Iraqis.

The only son of Poland they should be heeding is the Pope, who came out against the war and said that the soldiers "are going without God."

But as a pro-war and very Catholic Pole explained to me, what the Pope says on "affairs of the world" is unimportant; his authority is solely in matters spiritual. That "reasoning" floored me. What he really wanted to say is, I'm sure, was "we wanna go kill some Mohammedans and we won't let anybody not even the Pope get in the way."

On edit--make that guns for HIRE, not here!

[Merlin]

15. 8,000 Poles won't do the trick.

They'll need a lot more than that. These troops are mere window dressing for the billing coalition. The rest (they'll need 150,000 altogether) will be nearly all GIs.

[Dhalgren]

13. I really think

that the 3rd ID will be replaced by US troops. I can't see any one "ally" sending an entire division (one that would actually be considered a "replacement for the 3rd) or any group sending an adequate number of troops there. Also, can you imagine any government telling its people, "Hey, folks, the Americans don't like getting killed anymore, so they want us to go over there and get killed in their place." No, it'll be US soldiers that replace the 3rd.

[catmandu57]

14. I'd like to have a sack of whatever darth rummy

is smoking sounds like some good shit. I really can't see anyone taking our place in Iraq, if the UN inserted troops there they would be gone for home the first time they're fired on, opening a power vacuum. I think the Iraqi are getting to like killing americans they are going to make it awfully tough for us just to pack up and leave.

[NYC]

20. That would still keep them there through the summer's heat.

.