US combat brigades still in Iraq: report

[cory777]

Source: Raw Story

The US military and the Obama administration loudly trumpeted the withdrawal of the "last combat brigade" from Iraq last week, but news reports suggest the move is purely semantic: The combat brigades are still there, but under a different name.

The Army Times reported on Saturday that the US still has seven combat brigades inside Iraq, but they have been renamed "advise and assist brigades." The name change will reportedly change little in terms of the duties the brigades carry out:

"The Army selected brigade combat teams as the unit upon which to build advisory brigades partly because they would be able to retain their inherent capability to conduct offensive and defensive operations, according to the Army’s security force assistance field manual, which came out in May 2009. This way, the brigade can shift the bulk of its operational focus from security force assistance to combat operations if necessary."

In Sunday's Washington Post, Kenneth M. Pollack argues that the claim there are no more US combat troops in Iraq is "not even close.": "Of the roughly 50,000 American military personnel who remain in Iraq, the majority are still combat troops -- they're just named something else. The major units still in Iraq will no longer be called "brigade combat teams" and instead will be called "advisory and assistance brigades." But a rose by any other name is still a rose, and the differences in brigade structure and personnel are minimal."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0822/combat-brigades-iraq-report/

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Uncensored News http://activistnews.blogspot.com

[lumpy]

1. Yes

v

[IndianaGreen]

2. If they are still getting combat pay, then they are still combat troops

in a combat zone.

[readmoreoften]

3. Excellent point.

[indepat]

6. Now there you go trying to be logical, thinking a rose by any other name would smell the

same; that if it walks and talks like a duck, it is a duck; that little semantic nuances do not mean diddle-dy-squat in the big scheme of things. Oh ye of little faith. ;)

[PacerLJ35]

11. It's not "combat pay"...

You can get two different types of pay in the combat zone. Imminent Danger Pay, based on dangerous conditions where you work (does not have to be combat), and Hostile Fire Pay, which is working in a war zone. There is no such thing as "combat pay".

[SKKY]

14. Yea, what he said.

I've been in the Navy 18 years, and I've never heard of "combat pay". I have heard of and received IDP and HFP. But, nope. No combat pay.

[tabatha]

4. They may be receiving combat pay ---

but the Iraqi troops are performing the combat now under Iraqi command.

Please read:

http://www.juancole.com/2010/08/last-us-combat-units-withdraw-from-iraq.html

[IndianaGreen]

10. South Vietnam's ARVN could run circles around the Iraqi army

which is now fractured by sectarianism.

Obama said the oil in the Gulf was gone. FALSE!

Obama said we only have advisers left in Iraq. FALSE!

We still have troops in Iraq drawing combat pay, plus we have beaucoup mercenaries from Blackwater/Xe and the gods know from who else.

[boppers]

5. Do they have guns?

( ) Yes
( ) No

[Luciferous]

7. Is anyone genuinely surprised by this?

[jpak]

8. It's a conspiracy - Teh Bad Obama is lying to us again!!!111

US troops have combat capability!!!1111

They can defend themselves!!1111

:vapors:

:screechingandwailing:

:vapors:

[Synicus Maximus]

9. They are not combat troops, they are just advisors. Strange but

I think I have heard that term used before, I think it was in the early 60's

[PacerLJ35]

12. I was an advisor

From 2008 until 2009. We were armed, yes. I had both an M4 and an M9. I wore body armor when I was off-base. But we weren't there to do the fighting. Just because these guys have guns and equipment to wage war doesn't mean they are poised to conduct offensive operations. The point is, they aren't the first string...the Iraqis are.

[Demstud]

13. Thank you for the clarification.

That's about what I figured. All combat brigades leaving Iraq is not the same thing as all armed soldiers leaving Iraq. I thought it was fairly obvious, but maybe a lot of people inserted what they wanted to hear rather than really paid attention to what was going on.

[4bucksagallon]

15. It's an old game Nixon did this in 1969 when he was supposedly...

"withdrawing troops". He was rotating in country troops to ships and troops on ship to bases in SVN nothing new here, just the terminology.

[Bragi]

16. So what will they call new combat deaths?

Training casualties?

[PacerLJ35]

17. Combat deaths...

You don't have to be active in combat to be a KIA...some folks have died as the result of indirect fire...(ie, mortar, rocket, etc). They weren't actively engaging the enemy, but the enemy engaged them. It's still a KIA.

[conspirator]

18. War is Peace!! n/t