But Secretary Gates makes me wonder with this exchange:
Q Hi there, sir. I just wanted to get a little clarification on the difference between the combat and non-combat troops. Once the U.S. has pulled all combat troops out by August 31st of next year, the remaining troops will be non-combat. But they will presumably be combat-capable. Will there be a real significant difference in what troops are doing today and what the troops will be doing, you know, once they're officially designated non-combat?
SEC. GATES: Yes. All of the combat units will be out of Iraq by the end of August, and -- of 2010 -- and those that are left will have a combat capability. There will be, as the president said, targeted counterterrorism operations. There will be continued embeds with some of the Iraqi forces in a training capacity and so on.
So there will be the capability, but the units will be gone, and, more importantly, the mission will have changed. And so the notion of being engaged in combat in the way we have been up until now will be completely different.
That sure sounds like combat brigades will be gone and not just renamed something that implies pure support functions while retaining full combat capabilities.
Could we perhaps be thinking of leaving skeleton combat brigades in Iraq with their equipment in place so we can quickly fly in troops to man full brigades?
Prior to the Iraq War, we'd exercise a battalion in Kuwait routinely and it could be reinforced to full brigade strengthe quickly.
Could we be thinking of keeping a single line battalion and "recon" battlion from 4 or 5 brigades inside Iraq to help the Iraqis watch the border and bolster Iraqi units in overwatch, while retaining the ability to fly in the balance of each brigade to meet up with prepositioned equipment, including the headquarters unit that would signifiy a brigade presence?
And we'd have addional Army and Marine units using similar prepositioned equipment and forward-deployed elements nearby in Kuwait, the UAE, and Diego Garcia.
That would allow us to deter Iran while technically not having any combat brigades inside Iraq. Just a thought. Or maybe we'll just have renamed combat brigades and I'm reading too much nuance into the exchange. The important thing is we'll have ground combat capabilities.
