U.S. Army Running On Empty In Iraq

My UPC colleague Fester is fast becoming the authority on American troops levels, recruitment woes and the running down of the U.S. military by Bush's needless involvement in the Twin Wars. Whenever I post my broad brush strokes, I can be confident that it's Fester's statistics that inform my thinking.

Today he has another well researched post,pointing out that the U.S. Army's original plan from May 2003 was to only have 4 brigades in Iraq by now - and instead it's sixteen or seventeen.

Fester says this still isn't enough troops for the job. "In reality, the US is strong enough to mount sweeps that are "easter egg hunts" but sustain no presence unless they unmask other regions to bring in new units" He also thinks that the military are pretty much powerless to put extra troops in even if they wanted to and he has facts to back himself up. Go read it if you want to understand the big picture - that the U.S. is losing the heart of it's army in Iraq.