Old soldiers never die, they just get called back to review operations in Iraq.
The Pentagon has confirmed that retired Gen Gary Luck has been asked to review overall operations in Iraq.
The news comes as a senior official revealed that the US army is likely to ask for a permanent increase of 30,000 in its strength [blogged here yesterday].
US defence officials have sought to play this down as just part of an ongoing review process.
But Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has asked the general to look at the training of the Iraqi security forces.
That is critical, because handing over security to the Iraqis is key to the Pentagon’s exit strategy – and this new review does seem to reflect the concern about how the security strategy is unfolding.
US military commanders acknowledge that the performance of the Iraqis is mixed, and far from being able to cut US troop numbers as it had hoped, the Pentagon now has more personnel in Iraq than ever – more than 150,000.
To argue that operations in Iraq and the training of Iraqi security forces should not be reviewed for possible improvements would be silly. I wish Gen. Luck … well … good luck on his mission.