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US military overtaxed by wars: poll of officers
Washington (AFP) March 8, 2008 US military officers are concerned that the country's armed forces have been dangerously overtaxed by the Afghan and Iraq conflicts, according to a new survey by Foreign Policy magazine. Some 60 percent of more than 3,400 active and retired high-level command officers polled said they believe the US military is weaker than five years ago, compared with only a quarter who said it was stronger and 15 percent who felt the military was unchanged. Asked if the war in Iraq has broken the military, 42 percent said yes and 56 percent said no. But 88 percent said they agreed that the war has stretched the US military "dangerously thin." And despite speculation that the US would be willing to engage militarily with Iran, 80 percent said they believed that it was somewhat unreasonable or very unreasonable to expect the US military to wage another war somewhere in the world successfully at this point. After the two conflicts have killed over 4,000 servicemen and women and left more than 25,000 injured, those polled said that the biggest impact has been on the army. Asked to rate the health of the four military services on a scale of one to 10 -- one being "no concern" and 10 for "extremely concerned" -- the army averaged a rating of 7.9, the marines 7.0, the navy 5.9 and the air force 5.7. The poll by the Center for a New American Security and Foreign Policy magazine, and published in the journal's March-April issue, surveyed 3,437 serving or retired officers at or above the rank of lieutenant commander or major. On the Iraq war, there was firm support for the "surge" troop hike strategy launched in January 2007 to quell growing violence, with 88 percent saying it would have a positive impact on the overall US effort. But many -- 37 percent -- said that US rival Iran has gained the greatest strategic advantage from the Iraq war, compared with 19 percent naming the United States as the biggest beneficiary and 22 percent naming China. On strengthening the military by expanding its recruitment, 78 percent said they backed offering citizenship to non-US citizen residents for military service, while only 38 percent supported reinstating the draft. On a current politically-charged topic in Washington, 33 percent said they strongly agreed that "torture is never acceptable" and 20 percent somewhat agreed, while 44 percent somewhat or strongly disagreed with the statement. But only 46 percent agreed that waterboarding -- a simulated drowning interrogation technique prohibited to the US armed services but not specifically prohibited for US intelligence -- is torture, against 42 percent who disagreed. On Saturday President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have outlawed waterboarding for use by the CIA and other intelligence agencies by forcing them to adhere to US military interrogation rules. Related Links Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century
Iraq 'surge' downsizes as 2,000 US soldiers return home
Baghdad (AFP) March 6, 2008Some 2,000 US soldiers whose unit was part of last year's surge to bring stability to Iraq are leaving the country and not being replaced, the US military said Thursday. |
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