Iraq troop reduction benefits Afghanistan

Following an announcement by the Bush administration to withdraw 8,000 further troops from Iraq by February and funnel more troops to Afghanistan, the Secretary of Defense said that both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan are top military priorities. "With positive developments in Iraq, the strategic flexibility provided by ongoing troop reductions there , and the prospect of further reductions next year-- I think it is possible in the months to come to do militarily what we must in both countries," said Sec. Robert Gates in his written statement, referencing earlier Defense Department statements that in Afghanistan the U.S. does what it can and in Iraq it does what it must.

Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who drew the earlier distinction prioritizing the two wars, told the House Armed Services Committee that both conflicts are military priorities. "These [wars] are our priorities and they've been our priorities," he said. Mullen also enumerated the differences between the two conflicts including the nature of the enemy to the terrain on the ground. "We treated the needs of each war separately-- and weighed out decisions for each solely-- against the risks inherent and resources available."

Both Gates and Mullen made statements indicating united military decision making in reference to a new book by journalist Bob Woodward and a subsequent series in the Washington Post on the surge and how the military may have been circumvented by the White House. Mullen who is quoted in the book, emphasiezd that he was not interviewed about his statements. Mullen said that his advice, as chairman to the president was allowed up the chain of command unimpeded. "I think that is a very important part of our democracy and how the system is supposed to work."

Speaking about the recent 45-day period of review of troop levels in Iraq Mullen said that the decision was "candid, transparent, and thoroughly collaborative...including the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Additionally Gates announced that a procurement process for a new air tanker fleet would be postponed until July of 2009. The original bidding and selection process had been contested by Boeing and the GAO ordered a new request for proposals. Gates said because of the changes that need to be made to the "emotional" and "complicated" process, this procurement should be left to the next administration.

Gates explains Iran and Guatanamo policies to the Senate

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee about the FY09 Budget request for the Department of Defense. The total budget is $515.4 billion or 3.4 percent of U.S. GDP. $35 Billion more than last budget period. The budget includes $183.8 billion for modernization. Included in legislation is a request is for $70 billion in bridge funding which goes to funding the war. Gates made the complaint that the Congress still has not authorized the war supplemental request from $108 billion. Gates repeated a point made by his press secretary that Army payroll accounts could be dry by June if the Congress does not pass both the DoD budget and the war supplemental funding measures.


One of the most interesting exchanges occurred between Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Sec. Gates. Specter asked repeated question about the U.S. diplomatic relationship with Iran. Specter made reference to statements made by Gates last week, when he said that the U.S. should seek out more leverage to negotiate with Iran. Specter argued that the United States had more leverage in 2003 at the beginning of the war, when government of Iran seemed open to some kind of talks. Specter also said that it ridiculous to use our ultimate goal--the cessation of Iran's nuclear activities-- as a precondition to talks. "We sit across from them and speculate," said Specter saying that only more direct talks will lead to figuring out more leverage.


Also interesting was Sen. Diane Feinstein's (D-Calif) questions on the progress of a DoD investigation into the possibility of closing Guantanamo Bay prison. "Frankly, we're stuck," responded Gates. He outlined the roadblocks. Gates said that the Defense Department is struggling to get foreign countries to accept their detainees back, to ensure that accepted detainees are further detained and not let go, and to place detainees that will not be accepted back, will not be tried, but can not be released because of the risk that they will again engage in terrorism against the United States. Feinstein was critical saying that the investigation has done nothing so far to "absolve the massive loss of credibility" the U.S. has suffered over Guantanamo.

Pentagon PM report

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen briefed the press at the Pentagon. The made a brief opening statement about how May is Military Appreciation Month and then took questions.

Gates stressed that there is no plan to extend the tour of the 3,400 Marines currently in Afghanistan. He said that "no one has suggested even the possibility of extending that rotation and I'd be loath to do that." Mullen followed up that further additions of Marines to Afghanistan are "very much tied to troop levels in Iraq." Gates said that a transition for the Marines from Iraq to Afghanistan "should it occur would be very challenging."

On Myanmar the Secretary said that the Essex Strike Group has been offloading helicopters in Thailand where drops of supplies could be available in Myanmar within hours. The rest of the naval assets in the region have begun to head toward Myanmar in the even that the U.S. military is granted access to give aid. Both the secretary and the admiral stressed that under no circumstances would the U.S. move in without the permission of the Myanmar government. "The tragedy is compounded by the fact that if you look at what our Navy was able to do both with the tsunami and the Pakistani earthquake there is an opportunity here to save a lot of lives and we are fully prepared to help and help right away, it would be a tragedy if these assets, people didn't take advantage of them." Gates emphasized that the U.S. offer to help is totally non-political.

Secretary Gates said that the expulsion of two U.S. military attaches was merely a ti-for-tat response to an earlier expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S. for spying. He said that the major aspect of this is reciprocity. Gates, former head of the CIA and a PhD in Russian studies, said that there are intriguing developments coming out of Russia.

There seems to be a steady concern for the size of the force coming from the Department of Defense, especially regarding retention. Gates said that the Defense Department's opposition of the revised GI bill was that education benefits would be made available only after three years of service, instead of six years which is what the DoD would like to see. Gates said that the main concern from troops is the transferability of benefits to a spouse or child and that the Defense Department, in the interest of maintaining a qualified force would like to make these available after at least one reenlistment. Additionally, this concern about retention played out in a question about stop-loss. A higher overall number of military personnel are being stop-lossed now than in 2005. Gates said that stop-loss has been necessary to maintain unit integrity and that one of the main reasons for stop-loss was the 15-month deployments in Iraq. After the brigade combat teams are reduced to 15 in July, Gates said that he expects stop-loss to be reduced in September.

Getting to know the Department of Defense (Again)

By Meredith MacKenzie

I was born on Hahn AFB in Germany during the Cold War. I was baptized by an Air Force chaplain. For most of my life my father has been an F-16 Fighter pilot and my mother the most understanding and enduring of military spouses. All of my father’s friends went by names like “Fuzz,” “Mad Dog,” and “Chairman.” I have waited at an airport many times with that “Welcome Home Daddy!” sign. I understand every phrase from military life from “hurry up and wait” to the alphabet soup of TDY and the SOP and I will never forget the ROE my dad made me sign in order to get my learner’s permit.

As an Air Force brat, I thought that I understood America’s military. I mean, I come from a military family, the military helped pay for my education, my favorite college team (after my alma mater, of course) is the Fighting Falcons. But being on the ground, on base, even my own failed attempt to join AFROTC in college, could not have prepared me for getting to know the Department of Defense all over again.

As the TRNS Pentagon correspondent I had the chance over the last week to travel with the Secretary of Defense to Mexico City, Ft. Bliss, Texas, and the largest Army vehicle depot in the country at Texarkana. It was my first time traveling with a government entourage and I want to tell my fellow citizens that there is no better way to travel. I imagine that only the President or the Secretary of State travel in more style than Secretary Gates.

It was the contrast between our great accommodations (which the journalists themselves pay for) and the convenience of riding in a police escorted motorcade and the drab brown surroundings of Ft. Bliss that stuck out to me. I thought I knew what military life was about-- turns out that I know military life in an officer’s family. My family has never had to live on base, my father has never had a 15-month hardship deployment, and he certainly has never had three of them.



The bulk of America’s military are the enlisted men and women who serve in active duty. Only in the insulated rings of the Pentagon do officers outnumber enlisted. It is the enlisted soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who do the daily work of the military. By and large these are people who have not attended a four-year university. They have families which they began at a young age. They enlist and give control over their lives to an institution. Then they go to Iraq and Afghanistan and then they go back.

There are 34,000 active troops in Afghanistan and 150,000 in Iraq. The new Yankee Stadium could be filled twice with the men and women serving in theater. And this is just one part of the vastness of America’s Defense Department. The sheer size of America’s military/industrial complex is staggering. Considering the $550 billion base operating budget, the 23,000 employee population of the Pentagon and the millions of members of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as their respective Reserves and National Guards; it is not too much of a stretch to believe, as one colonel told us, that the combined territory of White Sands Missile Range, Yuma Proving Grounds and Ft. Bliss is larger than Rhode Island.

We toured a factory in Texarkana that puts out one Humvee every 24 minutes. We met with a colonel responsible for transitioning over 200 wounded soldiers to their homes or new units a month. We witnessed an enlistment ceremony where 45 young people (and they were young) enlisted and another 30 soldiers reenlisted. This ceremony at Ft. Bliss occurs monthly.

Sure everything is bigger in Texas, but these are just numbers from that one post, there are more than 250 U.S. military installations all over the world. Looking at the enormous scope of the nation’s defense it is no wonder that Sec. Gates, whom the Pentagon staff refer to as simply “the Boss,” is a big picture thinker. As the local press in Texas and a class of sergeant majors at Ft. Bliss discovered, Gates is the wrong man to ask about the details of a soldier’s pension or home loans. Gates simply can’t be expected to know all those details.

Over the past few months, in hearings and press conferences about what Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen has called “stress on the force,” I have felt concern about the long and repeated tours of duty. I have wondered what it does to the psyche of the young men of my high school graduating class. I have read carefully Joseph Stiglitz evaluation of a $3 trillion war. But at Ft. Bliss I met a psychologist who gave me a real idea of the cost of this war.

Dr. John E. Fortunato is the resilience and restoration program director in a prototype program at Ft. Bliss. He works with severe cases of post traumatic stress disorder, all of whom want to return to duty. Through an intensive 35 hours a week in therapy, Dr. Fortunato uses alternative medicine, psycho analysis, and biofeedback techniques to help soldiers become fit for duty. He says that it is his job to heal the wound that does not show and help these soldiers deal with the price of killing.

He told us the story of one soldier who had trouble in therapy. They pushed him and intensified therapy until finally he broke down in tears telling the hardest of his stories. What he said to the therapists, represents the real cost of this war. “No one knows,” he gasped through his tears, “No one know the price, the price you pay when you shoot a man so close his blood splashes back on your flack jacket.”

The money for the war comes from American taxpayers and their children, the decisions about funding are made in the air conditioned rooms of Congress, the war is administrated by top brass and career civil servants like Secretary Gates, the cost is estimated at $12 billion a month. But the price of this war is paid by men and women who enlist and serve in the U.S. military.

House Armed Services Committee hearing on joint capacity programs and military and governance funding of U.S. allies

The House Armed Services held a hearing on the partnerships between the State Department and the Department of Defense. Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff testified on joint capacity programs and funding for strengthening military and governance capabilities of U.S. allies, particularly undeveloped or young states. Mullen made an opening statement but did not offer testimony. He was available only to answer questions for members.

In his opening statement, chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) criticized the fact that interagency cooperation is often ad hoc and are not the result of advanced planning. He mentioned that Rice had appealed for more funding for these capacity building programs but the "administration has not taken the hint." Currently the Defense Department foots the bill for adding weapons and training to states like the Philippines, Nepal, and Lebanon. The idea behind supporting these militaries is to prevent terrorist groups or rebel guerrillas from creating a crisis that would require U.S. military intervention or threaten U.S. security.

Ranking member Dunkin Hunter (R-CA) was critical of the military spending money on what he classified as a State Department program and he brought up an instance when money had been spent in Nepal to counteract the Maoist rebel force. He questioned what critical Defense initiatives had to be put off because of allocations to fighting potential threats instead of current threats.

In his opening statement Secretary of Defense Robert Gates expressed his support for the "Global Train-and-Equip" program that Defense pays for and State helps implement through an agreement called 1206. Gates gave examples of success of the program including one where al-Qaida affiliated operatives in Palestine were stopped by U.S. help to the Lebanese government. Gates called for 1206 to be made permanent and give the Defense Department more authority in overseeing it. One point that Gates repeated was that in the current conflict military members have had to do quasi-diplomacy in their jobs because of the lack of funding for the State Department to send the needed resources to conflict zones.

Rep. Hunter caused a bit of tension when he criticized the "culture of the State Department." Comments that he made were based on a "town hall meeting" where foreign service officers complained about the idea of being forced to accept high risk assignments in Iraq. He said thousands of military members serve willingly in Iraq and Afghanistan, but was disappointed that the State Department had a hard time filling 47 spots in the Green Zone of Baghdad.

This prompted a heated response from Rice who defended the Foreign Service and said that she has had more than enough volunteers to serve in conflict zones and that certain diplomats, already serving in high-risk assignments, were offended at such an attitude.