by James Glaser
December 2, 2004

There is no doubt in my mind that this war in Iraq is not only wrong, but in the long run it is really going to cost our country. We are making millions of people the world over hate us for what we are doing over there. Iraq is in chaos and it will probably get worse after we pull out, no matter if we leave now or ten years from now.

From before the war started, many of our military leaders have told the Bush administration that it would take a lot more troops to occupy Iraq than we have. Today it was announced that we are increasing our troop strength from 138,000 to 150,000. That is still not close to the number we need to do the job, but it is a step in the right direction.

Because we didn't have enough troops from the start, we couldn't secure all the weapons that our troops are now getting attacked with every day. Without enough troops to do the job, we have never been able to secure Iraq's borders and when President Bush taunted every terrorist in the Middle East by telling them to "Bring it on," they did. They could cross that Iraqi border like they were crossing from Mexico to the United States. Bush has this thing about leaving our borders open to anyone who wants to come in. He did the same thing with Iraq's border.

Now many of the troops in Iraq know that they are not going to come home when they were told they would, because things are not going well over there. 10,400 Soldiers and Marines will have their tour of duty extended. 1,500 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent over for a four month tour. You know those guys are saying, "Four months, yeah right."

According to an article in the New York Times, written by Eric Schmidt and Thom Shanker, "By extending the tours of some 8,000 soldiers from two brigades, the Army is risking problems with morale and retention by breaking its pledge to keep troops on the ground in Iraq for no more than 12 months, some commanders and military experts said."

The army claims that this increase in force size is only temporary, until Iraq's elections are over, but many military specialists say the increase might last longer. "The department is managing the force as frugally and carefully as possible, but we may not fall much below the 150,000 level for more than a year" said Richard I. Stark, a retired colonel who is a troop specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Twice now the Army has extended deployments for Soldiers in Iraq. This places a real hardship on both those troops and all of their loved ones who are counting the days until they come home.

There is little doubt that more troops from the start would have saved American lives and stopped much of Iraq's insurgency. Another 12,000 will not change things much for our troops, but if we are bound and determined to stay there, we should have enough forces to do the job right. This increase still will leave us short, but it is a step in the right direction and it might even save a few American lives.