[Mb-civic] EDITORIAL Rebuilding the Army

[Michael Butler]

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washingtonpost.com
Rebuilding the Army



Sunday, February 6, 2005; Page B06

ADAY AFTER President Bush bluntly ruled out an "artificial timetable" for
withdrawal from Iraq, the Pentagon delivered a sobering follow-up: While the
15,000 additional U.S. troops deployed for last Sunday's elections will be
withdrawn, the 17 remaining brigades -- 135,000 soldiers and Marines -- will
be needed in Iraq at least through the end of this year. That estimate is
understandable, given the continuing strength of the Sunni insurgency and
the troubles in preparing Iraqi security forces. In fact, even the
post-election reduction seems questionable, given that vital infrastructure
and roads in Iraq, and even the highway from downtown Baghdad to the
airport, remain insecure. Yet the alarming truth may be that the
administration has little choice but to draw down troops: As it is, the
present deployment in Iraq is on the verge of breaking an undermanned Army.

On Wednesday, senior military officials gave the latest in a series of
alarming reports about the strain on the Army and Marines from two years of
fighting simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Carrying out a fourth
rotation of troops into Iraq in the fall will be "painful," Gen. Richard A.
Cody testified before the House Armed Services Committee; he suggested that
it might necessitate breaking a rule that limits reservists to 24 months of
active duty. Congressional pressure obliged the Pentagon to quickly prick
that trial balloon, but the troops will have to come from somewhere. By the
time the fall mobilization takes place, all 15 of the National Guard's most
deployable brigades will have been mobilized, and some regular units may
have to return next year for a third combat tour. Some are risking their
lives involuntarily: "Stop-loss" orders for soldiers completing their
service and the recall of some already discharged have created a backdoor
draft.

Predictably, it is getting harder and harder for the Army and Marines to
recruit young men and women willing to bear such hardships. The Marines
missed their recruiting goal in January for the first time in a decade, and
all of the reserve corps except the Marines missed their recruiting goals in
the first quarter of this fiscal year. The National Guard signed up barely
half of the recruits it aimed for in January; its commander warned in
December that unless it received $20 billion in new weapons and equipment,
the force "will be broken." For several years policy experts and congressmen
from both parties have been warning Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
that the size of the Army must be increased to meet the challenges of the
war against terrorism, notwithstanding his pet doctrine -- developed before
Sept. 11, 2001 -- of a smaller, lighter force. Now, thanks to Mr. Rumsfeld's
stubborn refusal to listen, a crisis is at hand.

The Pentagon may finally be conceding some ground: Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul D. Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that
a temporary increase of 30,000 troops in the Army would be made permanent in
the 2007 budget and that a quadrennial review of Pentagon doctrine getting
underway would reconsider the size of the force. That's a step in the right
direction, but more urgent action is needed. Last month a bipartisan group
of former senior defense and security officials and policy experts delivered
a letter to Congress recommending an increase in the active-duty Army and
Marines together of at least 25,000 troops each year over the next several
years. If such a buildup does not appear in the administration's budget for
next year, Congress should require it -- before the damage to the armed
forces grows any worse.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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