U.S. Marines say can keep Iraq levels indefinitely ("To our own surprise")

U.S. Marines say can keep Iraq levels indefinitely
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps can sustain indefinitely its current troop level in Iraq, the No. 2 Marine general said on Thursday, despite concerns about the 3-year-old war breaking the all-volunteer military.

Gen. Robert Magnus, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, also said the Marines do not plan to prohibit troops from having commercial body armor while deployed, as the Army did last week. Some troops and their families have bought body armor because of concern that what the military was providing was insufficient.

There are about 24,500 Marines serving in the U.S. force of about 132,000 in Iraq, defense officials said.

"To our own surprise, we are able to sustain this tempo, we think, probably indefinitely," Magnus told reporters. "We can sustain 20-25,000 in Iraq indefinitely," he added.

"Now I'm not advocating for 25,000 Marines in Iraq indefinitely. Don't go there on me," Magnus added. "But we thought, we were very concerned, and we are still concerned about making sure that we don't break the Marines and their families and we don't break the readiness of the Corps."

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060406/pl_nm/iraq_usa_marines_dc