TWO YEARS IN IRAQ
THE U.S. EXIT STRATEGY
March 21, 2005
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usiraq214185397mar21,0,197892.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlinesWASHINGTON - Rear Adm. William Sullivan, a top military planner, struggled last week at a House subcommittee hearing to explain how the Pentagon's estimates of Iraqi security forces keep dropping.
A chart showed a steady rise in Iraqi forces from 90,000, in October 2003, to 206,000 in April 2004. Suddenly there was a precipitous drop to 132,000.
The reason, Sullivan said, was that the U.S. had been counting police and soldiers who were on the payroll, as opposed to those actually reporting for duty.
With a new training program in place, the number climbed back up to 160,000 in August. But in September it dropped again to 90,000. This time, Sullivan said, officials decided not to count forces that had not yet been equipped, and to stop including night watchmen.
Now, Sullivan said, the number is back up to 142,472. But that figure, too, is misleading, Sullivan admitted, because tens of thousands are absent without leave at any given time.
The information was too much for Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). "This is like fantasyland," he said. "This is as fictive as the weapons of mass destruction are."