3000

3000 is the number being tossed around in the media concerning a residual force to remain in Iraq past 31 December, at least as of yesterday. This is in contrast to statements made by Prime Minister Maliki, who has said zero means zero, and all US forces must leave.

It seems our National Command Authority has a communications problem, as today they were backpedalling and stated that wasn't the official number. Wonder if we asked the Iraqis.

Regardless, our limbo continues, although we think we have a pretty good idea what the future means for us. Just no one has told us for sure yet.

This link http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=michael%20schmidt&st=cse is a story about the month of August, where we didn't lose a single Soldier. It is moderately accurate. Granted, Ramadan helped us out, but we are seeing the positive effects of a couple of months of hard work. The bad guys helped out, too, but we'll take it. We are somewhat wondering what caused the switch, but we're ok with the results.

The 3000 number and the insistence to stay reminds me of a quote I think I mentioned earlier in the blog a couple of months ago. A Squadron Commander noted over dinner one night that Americans are great at starting things and getting things done. Americans fix things; it's in our nature to try to keep making things better. We are, however, horrible at stopping, and quite frankly we're not really good at figuring out what we want things to look like when we think we are done with them. We just keep fixing stuff.

Sorry for the lack of update. Should have some better stuff to write about as this thing winds down, at least for us.

Ron