Marine commandant wants his troops out of Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwNGWZjUBrbgvOyW8rZO61BpbsdAD95T1TE01

By PAMELA HESS – 17 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iraq is stable enough to allow the roughly 22,000 U.S. Marines there to withdraw, the service's top general said Friday.

"The time is right for Marines in general terms to leave Iraq," said Marine Corps Commandant James Conway.

That war has become largely a nation-building mission rather than the pitched fighting in which the Marine Corps excels, Conway said.

Conway said he wants to see up to 20,000 Marines deployed instead to the building fight in Afghanistan, especially in the south where insurgents and the Taliban and al-Qaida benefit from both a nearby safe haven and booming trade in narcotics.


Who guards the embassy?

[Burma Jones]

1. Rumsfeld wanted the Marine Corps Mission changed......

There was a push in the last Administration to change the USMC mission to be more focused on occupation than on fast deployment, in other words, a smaller version of the US Army. You can imagine the resistance from the Marines. This signals the shaking off of the previous administrations sheer stupidity and, yes, insensitivity to the Corps. I say HOO-AH.