Army ex-captains (12) want US out of Iraq or a new military draft [View All]

[ProSense]

Army ex-captains want US out of Iraq or a new military draft

40 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Twelve former US army captains Tuesday urged Washington to either abandon Iraq or dramatically increase its military presence there by reinstating mandatory military service.

The article, published in the Washington Post, also criticized higher-ranking officers for believing they can still hold Iraq together with the force available.

"There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq," wrote the ex-captains, all of whom saw service in Iraq between 2003 and 2006.

"To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately.

"A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition," they wrote.

The Iraq war "is as undermanned and under-resourced as it was from the start," the authors wrote, stating bluntly that "Iraq is in shambles."

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Six years, $600 billion and the "surge" equals two lost wars