| Top Marine speaks candidly |
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It sounds like Iraq is
the next country, after Germany, Japan and Korea, to be the permanent
host of U.S. forces. In case you've forgotten, this was very, very bad
when the Russians were doing it:
(AP) Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway, speaks with reporters at the Pentagon, Wednesday, Dec. 5th
(excerpt)
Conway
also acknowledged that his idea of putting Marines primarily in
Afghanistan, after they leave Iraq, would have the added benefit of
attracting recruits at a time the Marine Corps is trying to expand.
"There's
a little bit of a recruiting consideration here in this, I'll admit to
you," he said, sketching out a scenario in which about 15,000 Marines
would be in Afghanistan and none in Iraq, compared with the present
situation in which there are about 25,000 Marines in Iraq and just a
few in Afghanistan.
Switching to Afghanistan at lower numbers
would give Marines more time between combat tours, while appealing to
those potential recruits who like the idea of fighting in the country
that gave haven to al-Qaida before it carried out its Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks on the United States, Conway said. Left unsaid was the notion
that many Marines get less satisfaction from their efforts in Iraq.
He referred to the Marines' current duty in Iraq's Anbar province as almost like occupation duty.
"Occupation
is not the right word here, but the long-term security forces, that's
not a Marine function," he said. "That's not what U.S. Marines do for
the country. We're expeditionary, and we do not get engaged in some of
the long-term type of duties that you see in Germany or in Japan or in
Korea. We are much more mobile than that, and we want to keep that
mobility and that flexibility and not get tied down."
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