General: Iraq War Unraveling U.S. Army

The Iraq war has left the U.S. military in critical condition, stretched beyond its limits in manpower and equipment and in danger of "breaking," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey said. "The United States Army is stumbling toward the edge of a cliff. It's starting to unravel," McCaffrey told the Rocky Mountain News, prior to addressing the Homeland Defense Symposium at the Broadmoor Hotel. "It has $61 billion in equipment shortages. It has a $50 billion shortfall in the vital equipment and parts you need to run a war," said the former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Southern Command. "I hope there's new thinking and new debate because the course we're on now won't sustain us for the next 24 months." The 14 Army brigades now deployed in Iraq have their full complement of troops and "extremely competent" leadership, said McCaffrey, but "the other two-thirds of the Army's combat brigades are not ready to fight." That's because many brigades leave their equipment in Iraq for their replacements when they return home and are rapidly depleted of manpower as returning soldiers complete their service and leave, McCaffrey said. Any new emergency, he said, such as heightened tensions in Korea or Taiwan, a domestic terrorism attack or natural disaster, could push the Army beyond its limits.