April 16, 2004

Numbers Racket

By Douglas Hanson
The parade of retired generals has finally been heard. General Abizaid, Commanding General of CENTCOM, has requested more manpower to garrison Iraq.  More than a few news outlets have reminded us about how seemingly prescient the now—retired Army leadership has been about this issue.  For example, Rowan Scarborough in the Washington Times devotes space at the end of an otherwise matter—of—fact piece about the new troop requirements, to remind us of the comments of then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Shinseki testifying before Congress about the need for more occupation troops in Iraq.  And, in the April 19th issue of Time Magazine , retired General Barry McCaffrey gets down to specifics and states that we need 80,000 more troops in the active Army component to bolster our strategic depth.   They are most certainly right, given the course of events in Iraq in the past few weeks.  Gen. McCaffrey points to important global considerations, such as the...(Read Full Article)