Wednesday, June 13, 2007
A senior U.S. military commander said yesterday that Iraq's army must expand its rolls by at least 20,000 more soldiers than Washington had anticipated, to help free U.S. troops from conducting daily patrols, checkpoints and other critical yet dangerous missions.
Even then, Iraq will remain incapable of taking full responsibility for its security for many years -- five years in the case of protecting its airspace -- and will require a long-term military relationship with the United States, said Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who until recently led the U.S. military's training effort in Iraq.
We need to get cracking on this. One of these days we will give the Iraqi air force a plane. That so far seems to be delaying the process of them defending their air space. Oh, our concerns that any pilot might just decide to carpet bomb another sectarian group might be delaying things as well.
But I am also sure that there are 20,000 young men who have avoided the militias and any sectarian hard feelings who want to join the military in Iraq but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Oye.
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