War equipment to remain in Iraq once troops leave

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON — Most of the equipment U.S. Marines are using in Iraq will be left behind once the troops withdraw from the region, the assistant commandant of the corps said this week.

“The bulk of that equipment, by the time we see the end of this, will be best left there and just replaced,” Gen. William Nyland said during testimony before Congress. “I don’t think it will ever come home.”

Most of the equipment used by Marines in Iraq was brought to that country during initial combat operations, Nyland said. Personnel have used vehicles and aircraft left by their predecessors, rather than bringing their own equipment.

Heavy use, combined with the harsh environment in Iraq and “unavoidable delays” in routine maintenance, have left much of the gear degraded, according to Corps officials. For example, CH-46 helicopters in Iraq are currently flying at about 2.5 times their normal peacetime rate.

more…
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=27577

[Jacobin]

1. Well, errr, since its all fucking BLOWN UP, I guess they won't bother

bringing it back here.

Too embarrassing/

[Coventina]

5. Yeah, did the German army bother to retrieve their tanks from Russia?

I highly doubt it.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. What kind of lie is this, that we are "leaving" Iraq? We are building

14 permanent bases.

Please correct me if I am mistaken....

[merwin]

3. Took the words right out of my mouth...

[Disturbed]

6. Maybe he meant a hundred years from now?

Or if the Iraqis manage to kick the U.S. out?

[merwin]

21. I suspect we'll be there far longer than 100 years... if the planet lasts

that long.

[Enquiringkitty]

11. I keep wondering if Bush has some agenda to take over the

middle east for some kind of biblical history (save the Holy Land) crusade. It might not just be about oil...maybe this Christian zeal he says he has...or God told him..is making him think that Christians need to have dominion over the Holy Land. Maybe I'm paranoid.

[BlueEyedSon]

15. You're asking? Of course! We have to secure Israel's safety,

then after some preset number of years the messiah returns.

No, I'm not making this up, it all fits with the whacked-out Rapture-ized/Left Behind/Dominionist prophesies.

These guys are nuttier than fruitcakes and it's not clear who is using whom between the Crazy Christians and the atheist neocons.

[KDLarsen]

26. Not to mention a clear geopolitical goal..

.. taking over Iraq was a clear message to countries like Saudi Arabia: "Don't think about shutting those valves on the oil pipes, or this is what happens".

[leftchick]

22. absofuckinglutely! And a multi-million dollar (US$!) communications

system. Now a country does not do that unless they plan on staying in the neighborhood for quite a while. This is pure BS for the clueless....

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/outrage?pid=2132

<snip>
While the exact figure may change, suspicions of undisclosed US imperial plans--exemplified by permanent military bases--rightfully linger. Before the war, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz suggested moving US troops stationed in Saudi Arabia into Iraq. In October, a survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes found that two-thirds of respondents disapproved of a permanent military presence, even though more than half thought the US would build the bases anyway.

Now comes a report in the New York Sun by Eli Lake revealing that the Pentagon is building a permanent military communications system in Iraq, a necessary foundation for any lasting troop presence. The new network will comprise twelve communications towers throughout Iraq, linking Camp Victory in Baghdad to other existing (and future) bases across the country, eventually connecting with US bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan.

"People need to get realistic and think in terms of our presence being in Iraq for a generation or until democratic stability in the region is reached," Dewey Clarridge, the CIA's former chief of Arab operations (and Iran-contra point man), told the Sun.

The fabled "exit strategy" may be not to exit. Thomas Donnelly, a defense specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, said the new communication system resembles those built in West Germany and the Balkans, places where American troops remain today. "The operational advantages of US bases in Iraq should be obvious for other power-projection missions in the region," Donnelly wrote in an AEI policy paper.

Next time the Bush Administration hints at withdrawing troops, keep these grand plans in mind.

[karlrschneider]

4. By then it will be 40 years old anyway...

:eyes:

[Democrats_win]

7. What are they saving the "good" equipment for? another war?

"Personnel have used vehicles and aircraft left by their predecessors, rather than bringing their own equipment"

Iraq may be corrosive, but we have corrosion in the U.S. too.

[LiberalCompassionate]

8. Yeah, we are leaving stuff

like blown up, stripped for parts, Abrams M1A1 tanks armored with depleted uranium. It's the gift that keeps on giving!
:puke:

[FightingIrish]

9. Here we go again...

Remember those pictures of helicopters being pushed off the flight deck as we retreated from Vietnam? What we leave behind will depend upon whose terms we leave on. Given the fact that the loss of our sons and daughters is about to surpass the losses for the corresponding month in the previous year for twelve straight months, I would guess that it won't be a gracious exit. This hole is getting deeper.

[Enquiringkitty]

10. We usually leave a bunch of stuff behind everywhere we go.

We leave the stuff and then some years later, they use it against us just like all the training we give countries when they are on our side. Politics change and we are looking at our own stuff being pointed at us, being lead by men we trained as rebels or new recruits.

[VegasWolf]

12. Like armed land mines, bombs, etc, n/t

[genieroze]

13. We always leave crap behind, we treat other countries like our toilets.eom

[LynnTheDem]

14. Let the Iraqis clean up America's mess.

Enjoy the DU, Iraq. Again.

And Americans wonder why we're so hated.

[Rex]

16. What do we spend that 400 billion on?

Doesn't sound like we spend it on CH-46 helicopters. Wonder how much the war machine will make when they contract to replace the equipment - but that's just silly thinking on my part!

[Zerex71]

17. That's right, we fly in and dump toxic s**t all over their country, and

then leave. That's mighty nice of us. Was that part of the "Democracy Now Special(TM)" or was that the "plus-if-you-act-fast" Ronco bonus thing?

[clem_c_rock]

18. And they will remain on the 14 permenant bases

[Javaman]

19. This is so they can rape our wallets...

They will say they need to by all new stuff. Don't you see? First it's payday for Halliburton then it's payday for all the defence contractors.
Got to say one thing about the repukes, they certainly know how to spread the wealth around, that is of course if you are already wealthy. The rest of us are fucked.

[daleo]

20. It gives them an excuse to come back later too.

"Uh, we'll just be coming by to pick up a few things we forgot. Shouldn't take but a century or so."

[truthisfreedom]

23. heh. i can think of some profit-based reasons why. can you?

just keep spending our money, bushco. war machinery and profiteering runs in the bush blood... goes all the way back.

[0007]

24. Is this an incentive for little brother?

[dbt]

25. "The coal company came with the world's largest shovel."

It had to be delivered in pieces by rail to Muhlenburg County, Kentucky, where it was put back together and used to "dig for the coal til the land was forsaken." (Sounds like a John Prine song, doesn't it?)

When the coal ran out, the shovel was used to dig its own grave and was buried. It was cheaper to abandon it than it was to bring it out. Reckon that's one lesson bu$hco has learned from history...

[mmonk]

27. By the time we leave

it will all be obsolete.