On Sunday he declared all troops were out of Iraq’s cities, but today top US commander in Iraq General Raymond Odierno conceded that “a small number” of US troops are still there, and “will remain in cities to train, advise, coordinate with Iraqi security forces, as well as enable them to move forward.”
When pressed to give a number, Gen. Odierno declined, declaring “I just don’t want to do it,” and insisting that the exact number would change from day to day depending on “how much coordination is required.”
The closest estimate Odierno would give was to say that it was “a significantly smaller number than what we had.” The troops didn’t move particularly far, and are presenting ringed around the city limits of Iraq’s major cities poised to re-enter at a moment’s notice.
At present the Pentagon says that roughly 131,000 US troops remain on the ground in Iraq, only 4,000 fewer than were in the nation three and a half months ago. The level of troops is still somewhat above pre-surge levels, and what passes for a pullout plan continues at an almost impossibly slow pace.
This type of obfiscation by the military leadership has been sticking in my craw for some time. If there was any reason to keep this information from the American public I could see the General's point but there just isn't. One of two things is going on here – either A) the military really has no earthly idea where the troops are at the present or B) the "small number" still in the cities is a damn big number that the American people and I dare say the Iraqi people might consider an announcement of our departure premature.
Here's the deal generals, from now on if you can't give an exact figure in response to a question and have no strategic or tactical reason not to answer the questions posed by the press then give a ballpark answer. The past admin tried to say that it was gotcha politics or "events on the ground" (as opposed to those in the air or water I guess) that would determine the timelines or troop levels. This is simply BS. Any good manager in business or in the military has an idea of how long operations will take and an idea of how many troops will be involved.
Now the Obama admin is sounding a lot like the Bush admin with supposedly listening to the commanders "on the ground" again with regard to troop withdrawls. Wrong – the civilian leadership sets the goals and the military executes – perhaps the past two presidents don't understand their role here. The generals have a vested interest in maintaining a war footing, I'm sorry to say, so letting them set the timeline when they will be out of work is rather bass ackward. Not that they shouldn't get input from the military leaders but c'mon.