The Major Deterrent To Middle East War
Is Directly Determined by the number of U.S.
Troops we have on land in the Middle East Zone!
We have 50,000 in Iraq and 100,000+ in Afghanistan,
As They Leave the Odds of a Middle East War Increases,
And I am convinced Middle East War Will begin Before 2015!
August 24, 2010
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
Begin Excerpt 1 from Middle East Online
Refusing to rule out a return to US combat missions
August 23, 2010
Odierno says Iraq failure could see US combat role resume
Top US commander in Iraq says American troops
could remain in war-torn country beyond 2011.
By Andrew Gully – WASHINGTON
The top US commander in Iraq admitted Sunday that a “complete failure” of Iraqi security forces could oblige the United States to resume combat operations there, but he called this an unlikely scenario.
The last US combat brigade withdrew from Iraq on Thursday. On August 31 combat operations officially end and the role of the remaining 50,000 American troops switches to one of providing advice and assistance.
General Ray Odierno told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the ability of the Iraqi police and army to keep a lid on the violence was improving, but refused to rule out a return to US combat missions if things went sour.
Security advancements meant Iraq was on target to be able to handle its own security after 2011 when the remainder of
the US troops are due to be withdrawn, the commanding general of American forces in Iraq said.
“My assessment today is they will be (ready),” he told CNN, speaking from Baghdad. “I think that they continue to grow. We continue to see development in planning, and in their ability to conduct operations.
“The Iraqi people are resilient. They want this. They want to have a democratic country.
They want to be on their own.
They want to be moving forward and be a contributor to stability in the Middle East.”
Despite the advances in building up Iraq’s security apparatus, Odierno conceded there were scenarios where the US military might have to step back in and resume combat operations.
“If, for example, you had a complete failure of the (Iraqi) security forces. If you had some political divisions within the political forces that caused them to fracture, but we don’t see that happening,” he said.
“They have been doing so well for so long now that we really believe that we are beyond that point.”
But massive security challenges remain, and the extent of the country’s political problems was highlighted this week when the winner of the general election five months ago broke off coalition talks with his main rival.
Thursday’s pullout, a major symbolic step in the handing back of power to the Iraqi people, came two days after a suicide bomber killed 59 people at a Baghdad army recruiting center in Iraq’s deadliest attack this year.
Iraq’s top military officer warned earlier this month that American forces may be needed in the conflict-wracked nation for a further decade.
“If I were asked about the withdrawal, I would say to politicians: the US army must stay until the Iraqi army is fully ready in 2020,” Lieutenant General Babaker Zerbari told AFP.
US President Barack Obama will make a major speech on Iraq on his return next week from his summer vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, a senior administration official said.
Obama, who was an opponent of the Iraq war from the beginning and promised on the road to the White House to withdraw US forces as quickly as possible, has insisted the ongoing pullout is on schedule and will not be altered.
Under a bilateral security pact all US forces must leave Iraq by the end of 2011, but Odierno said special training units could remain, noting similar security arrangements with regional allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
“Potentially we could be there beyond 2011,” he said. “If the government of Iraq requests fielding systems that could help them with external threats.”
Anthony Blinken, national security advisor for Vice President Joe Biden, suggested earlier this month that the US military presence in Iraq post-2011 could be just “dozens” or “hundreds” of troops under embassy authority.
The August 31 formal end to US combat operations comes almost seven and a half years after the start of the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, ordered by Obama’s predecessor George W.
Bush.
Begin Excerpt 2 from Middle East Online
Despite new mission, US troops still in the fight in Iraq
50,000 US troops in Iraq ‘will continue to conduct partnered counter-terrorism operations’.
By Dan De Luce – WASHINGTON
August 21, 2010
US troops will still be in combat and taking on militants in Iraq even as the American military moves to an “advise and assist” role with a smaller force, officials said Thursday.
The withdrawal of the last US combat brigade on Thursday was hailed as a symbolic moment for the controversial American presence in Iraq, more than seven years since the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
But while the remaining 50,000 troops will no longer have a formal combat mission after September 1, they will be well-armed and possibly coming under fire as they join in manhunts for Al-Qaeda figures or other extremists.
“I don’t think anybody has declared the end of the war as far as I know,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told MSNBC.
“Counter-terrorism will still be part of their mission,” said Morrell, referring to the fight against militant networks.
The 50,000-strong force will operate in six “advise and assist brigades,” taking part in operations at the request of Baghdad authorities and playing a supporting role to Iraqi units.
The US troops “will continue to conduct partnered counter-terrorism operations” in an effort “to help Iraqi security forces maintain pressure on the extremist networks and protect the citizens of Iraq,” Major Christopher Perrine told AFP.
The brigades are equipped with robots, unmanned aircraft and dog teams to help track militants and roadside bombs, along with experts in intelligence and logistics, he said.
Recent bombings have underscored the threat still posed by Al-Qaeda and other militants in Iraq, even though the Qaeda network has suffered severe setbacks with the deaths of senior leaders and a shortage of cash.
Al-Qaeda’s structure in Iraq remains “pretty much intact,” the head of US special operations command, Brigadier General Patrick Higgins, told the Washington Post this month.
Even as the Pentagon draws down the force in Iraq, US special operations command — which focuses on counter-terrorist operations — will stay at the same level of 4,500 troops.
Violence has spiked as the US draws down, with a suicide bomb Tuesday at an army recruitment center in Baghdad killing 59 people, the majority of them prospective soldiers, in the bloodiest attack in Iraq this year.
The shift in the US military role has been underway for months, with June 2009 serving as a turning point when Iraqi security forces took the lead in the country’s major cities and towns.
“At that point, we were not unilaterally conducting any combat operations anymore,” Morrell said.
“So when they have a bad guy they need to go after and they want our assistance doing it, there’s a warrant, they ask for our assistance and we go after them together.”
He added that US forces will have the right to defend themselves in any situation “should that become necessary.”
The US military presence, while dramatically altered, may continue long after the end of 2011, when all American forces are supposed to depart under a security agreement.
Top military leaders in both countries acknowledge Iraq still may need help from the US armed forces after 2011.
“We’re obviously open to that discussion,” US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week.
“But that initiative will have to come from the Iraqis.”
Iraq’s top military officer told AFP last week that American forces may be needed for another decade.
A future accord with Iraq might include continued air patrols with US F-16s, as officials admit Baghdad’s air force is a long way from being able to fend off attacks from fighter jets.
To make up for a scaled back US military force, Washington meanwhile plans to rely on large numbers of private security contractors, US officials said Thursday.
The State Department said it will double the number of contractors it employs in Iraq to about 7,000.
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