Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Not since the end of the Vietnam War has the U.S. military faced as large a task of hauling home weapons and equipment as it does in Iraq. More 1.5 million pieces of hardware, ranging from the 65-ton Abrams tank to antennas weighing a few pounds, have to be shipped back to the U.S. along with more than 100,000 soldiers.
The task is so huge that planners have already begun redeploying some units to Kuwait in order to meet the deadline of having all combat forces out of Iraq by August 31, 2010. Within six months, in fact, the military plans to have sent home tens of thousands of troops and, by the end of next March, about 60% of equipment.
The Pentagon has not said how much the pullout of Iraq will cost the government. But the Government Accountability Office has estimated it will increase war costs by billions of dollars, with an additional $12-$13 billion alone needed for maintenance, repairs and replacement of equipment returned from Iraq once the pullout is complete.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
American Commander: US on the Road Out of Iraq (by Chelsea Carter, Associated Press)
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