- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
Pentagon is gearing up for a massive rotation of about a quarter million
troops in and out of Iraq, a giant logistics chore complicated by concerns
about opportunistic attacks targeting Americans as they arrive or depart.
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- Between late January and May, 123,000 weary U.S. troops
will be pulled out of Iraq and replaced with about 110,000 fresh Army soldiers
and Marines. In addition, 11,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be brought
home and replaced with about the same number.
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- Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the military's
Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the rotation "a logistics feat that
will rival any in history."
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- "So there's going to be a lot of turbulence in the
system, as you would expect," Myers told reporters recently.
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- "Turbulence is always undesirable," added Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
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- A total of 212 U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat
since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May
1. Attacks by insurgents regularly add to the death toll.
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- Pentagon officials and defense analysts said insurgents
fighting U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq may view the mass arrivals
and departures as a unique opportunity to inflict further casualties on
Americans.
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- "The troops will be on the roads, they will be in
the skies, and, in general, they will be away from fortified areas in larger
numbers than in any time since combat ended," said analyst Loren Thompson
of the Lexington Institute.
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- Analyst Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic
and International Studies added: "There's always the risk that some
terrorist group or insurgent group can hit a U.S. aircraft either taking
off or landing, and this is particularly true during periods of high density
when it may not be possible to stagger the aircraft quite as securely as
usual."
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- 'AN INVITING TARGET'
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- A Pentagon official also noted the danger of a spate
of deadly vehicle accidents with such a large movement of forces.
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- Defense officials expressed concern about the wholesale
withdrawal of the U.S. forces who have carried the load in Iraq and their
replacement with troops and commanders lacking experience in Iraq.
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- "The turnover of people -- you lose situational
awareness, you lose relationships, you lose the experience," Rumsfeld
said. "The people going over are ready, but the people there are experienced
and really know their stuff. And who would you rather have there?"
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- "So what we're going to have to do is to manage
that transition very carefully. There's going to have to be overlap,"
he said.
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- Officials said each arriving unit is due to have a period
of at least weeks to work alongside the departing unit to get briefed on
terrain, culture and the nature of the enemy in their particular region.
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- The rotation of people will be accompanied by a change
in equipment to better fight an insurgency rather than organized military
units. There will be fewer heavy M-1A1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting
Vehicles but more lighter armored Humvees intended to protect against rocket-propelled
grenades or roadside bombs used by insurgents, officials said.
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- Departing units include: the Army's 82nd Airborne Division
from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
from Fort Carson, Colorado; the 1st Armored Division from Germany; the
4th Infantry Division from Fort Hood, Texas; and the 101st Airborne Division
from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
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- The arriving units include: elements of a Marine Expeditionary
Force; the 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood, Texas; the 1st Infantry
Division from Germany; and three National Guard combat brigades, from Arkansas,
Washington state and North Carolina.
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