Shift of Marines to Afghanistan back on table

[unhappycamper]

Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit return fire on Taliban positions near the town of Garmser in Helmand Province of Afghanistan on May 2.


Shift of Marines to Afghanistan back on table
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday May 10, 2008 8:02:38 EDT

Even if peace breaks out across Anbar province and the rest of Iraq, Marines may not get a break from the current op tempo.

Next stop: Afghanistan. Not this year — but maybe in 2009.

Senior Pentagon officials say the proposal to shift Marines out of Iraq and into Afghanistan in large numbers is back on the table.

Top military leaders shot down the idea last fall when Commandant Gen. James Conway said publicly that he’d like to leave Iraq to the Army and essentially take over the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.

But since then, the Pentagon opted to send more than 3,000 Marines into Afghanistan — the largest contingent of leathernecks deployed to that country in nearly four years — and efforts to get other NATO countries to commit more troops there have fallen flat.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/05/marine_afghanistan_051008w/



uhc comment: I guess this occupation isn't doing very well, either.