We should get out, and oh, Europe doesn't have troops to replace us

I caved a while back and registered my support for the cut-and-run option, even while I defended Kerry's insistence that we should stay and help fix Iraq. Kerry is surely rethinking his optimism about 'winning the peace'. I won't hold the notion against him as he has no control of events in Iraq, but I don't expect that line to last another month.

Bush has seriously broken Iraq, and we have lost any moral high ground we might have wanted Iraqis to imagine we had. The can be no legitimate government in Iraq as long as the U.S. or its installed authority is in charge of choosing the successor government.

I've never seen how the U.N. would take responsibility for Iraq without some U.S. committment for security on the ground. That's why NATO seemed like a good compromise. But now it is becoming clear that there aren't going to be enough troops available from Europe to actually take on our occupying role there.

The only solution now is to admit failure and leave. Don't put any more resources in there than we need to safely withdraw, and certainly don't put any more soldiers in Iraq.

Here's the situation in Europe:


European Military Might Lacks Numbers-

Demands for expanding the international force in Iraq (search) are unlikely to be met with greater numbers of troops from Europe — not only because America's traditional allies lack the political will, but because they also lack the troops to fight.

"I think that we've probably reached the limit of the number of European troops that we will see on the ground in Iraq. The only other nation that can contribute a substantial number of troops is France, and they have categorically rejected that," Nile Gardiner, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation (search), told Foxnews.com.

A common moniker for Europe is that it is an economic giant and a military midget. While many European militaries are transforming and modernizing, few European countries have significant armies. For one, those countries don't spend the cash needed to maintain large numbers of soldiers. Two, much of the money that is appropriated goes to salaries and training for conscripts, who are only in uniform for nine to 12 months and can do little to expand each nation's capabilities.

"If you separate Britain and France, there are very small numbers of combat troops available," said Gardiner. "I don’t believe that European nations really have the quality of troops required for combat situations in Iraq apart from major players like Britain and France."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119541,00.html

Time to get out.


Me Book

Europe can't bail us out of this. The only answer is to scale back our military ambitions.