Gates says Iraq to require U.S. presence for years

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=355278

The question for the American people is not whether the United States ought to be in Iraq, but what the endgame is.

So said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at Fort Bliss, Texas, at a news conference after touring the Restoration and Resilience Center at the West Texas base.

Gates said Iraq will require a residual U.S. presence for years. “I think the question is, at this point, not whether or not we should be in Iraq. We are there,” the secretary said. “The question is, what's the endgame?”

The U.S. government and coalition allies in Iraq have to manage the final phases of the Iraqi conflict in a way that doesn’t “leave us with a bigger problem in Iraq than we started with,” the secretary said.
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The Endgame is get the hell out of there

[LakeSamish706]

1. Well in answer to that, I would hope that an Obama Presidency will not go...

along with that train of thought, cause I am sure that most of his supporters do not.....

[lovuian]

2. Housing conditions for returning U.S. soldiers appalling, says Gates

Housing conditions for returning U.S. soldiers appalling, says Gates

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=355279


The secretary delayed the movement of units from Germany because housing wasn’t yet ready for them and he wanted to avoid a duffle-bag shuffle in temporary facilities. “I thought it would be unacceptable for soldiers and their families to live and work under those conditions,” he said.

As the Army builds new facilities, Gates said, it can’t neglect existing ones.

Noting that 56 percent of active-duty forces are married and 44 percent have children, Gates said the Defense Department “needs to be more family-friendly -- to adjust to reality, but also because it is the right thing to do.”

He applauded sweeping initiatives being advanced in the Army Family Covenant that seek to give troops and their families “a quality of life that is commensurate with their service.”

snip...

Its about time

[Muttocracy]

3. kick.