On some days, Barack Obama says he’s getting out of Iraq in 16 months. On some days, Barack Obama says his withdraw from Iraq is up for debate. On some days, Barack Obama says something stupid like he’s going to tell Joint Chiefs of Staff to end the war when Joint Chiefs of Staff have no bearing on the military command structure.
But ABC has gone over Barack Obama’s Iraq plan and determined his confusion about it isn’t the main problem. There’s another nagging little problem with his plan; it won’t work. Like, at all.
We spent a day with Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond in Sadr City. He is the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which is responsible for Baghdad. Hammond will likely be one of the commanders who briefs Barack Obama when he visits Iraq.
[...]
Asked if he considered it dangerous to pull out if the withdrawal is not based on “conditions,” Hammond said, “It’s very dangerous. I’ll speak for the coalition forces, men and women of character and moral courage; we have a mission, and it’s not until the mission is done that I can look my leader in the eye and say, ‘Sir, Ma’am, mission accomplished,’ and I think it is dangerous to leave anything a little early.”
But, as they say, that’s not all.
Physically removing the combat brigades within that kind of time frame would be difficult, as well.
The military has been redeploying troops for years, and Maj. Gen. Charles Anderson, who would help with the withdrawal, told us as we toured Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, “We have the capacity to do a minimum of two-and-a-half brigade combat teams a month — can we expand that capacity? Sure. Can we accelerate? It depends. It depends on the amount of equipment that we bring back. And it’s going to depend on how fast we bring them out.”
[...]
While Anderson and his troops have a positive attitude, several commanders who looked at the Obama plan told ABC News, on background, that there was “no way” it could work logistically.
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