WASHINGTON, July 27 (UPI) -- A GOP congressman Friday criticized a new plan to ease U.S. troop deployments to Iraq.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and a conservative candidate for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination, said the legislative proposal to be offered by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., "would prohibit the deployment of active and reserve component units that did not meet certain minimum stand-down or 'dwell time' requirements between deployments."
"I believe that such prohibitions intrude heavily and inappropriately into the constitutional duties of the president as commander in chief," Hunter said.
"Beyond that, both dwell time proposals appear to be not so much efforts to improve the readiness of units and quality of life of members in the armed forces, but rather to force a withdrawal and reduction of U.S. forces committed to Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. I say that because the structure of Chairman Skelton's (proposal) would focus deployment prohibitions on Iraq," he said.
"I am concerned that by statutorily reducing the pool of forces available for deployment, essentially putting brigades and battalions on the shelf ... (the proposal) will have the actual effect of increasing the stress on the readiness, personnel tempo and deployment tempo of the units that remained available to meet combatant commander requirements," the congressman said.
"It may also put forces deployed in theater at increased risk if the Army and Marine Corps, for example, cannot meet those requirements. Further, it may create a requirement to extend committed forces in theater," he said.
However, many experts and retired generals have warned that the pressure of the current deployment sysytem on U.S. ground forces cannot be maintained for much longer without revising it.
