The Washington Post

Army Too Stretched if Iraq Buildup Lasts

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
The Associated Press
Sunday, August 19, 2007; 5:51 PM

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WASHINGTON -- Sapped by nearly six years of war, the Army has nearly exhausted its fighting force and its options if the Bush administration decides to extend the Iraq buildup beyond next spring.

The Army's 38 available combat units are deployed, just returning home or already tapped to go to Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, leaving no fresh troops to replace five extra brigades that President Bush sent to Baghdad this year, according to interviews and military documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

That presents the Pentagon with several painful choices if the U.S. wants to maintain higher troop levels beyond the spring of 2008:

_Using National Guard units on an accelerated schedule.

_Breaking the military's pledge to keep soldiers in Iraq for no longer than 15 months.

_Breaching a commitment to give soldiers a full year at home before sending them back to war.

For a war-fatigued nation and a Congress bent on bringing troops home, none of those is desirable.

• より多くの州兵の海外派兵
• イラク派兵は、連続１５ヶ月間を超えない との制約解除
• 帰国後の本国滞在期間は１２ヶ月を保証する事を止める