U.S. plans massive troop rotation

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to rotate a quarter of a million troops into and out of Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan early next year.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday the Pentagon plans to replace virtually all of the United States' battle-hardened forces with new fighters. The rotation would substitute about 118,000 troops for 130,000 outgoing soldiers in Iraq alone.

The Times said the plan combines two controversial Pentagon decisions: to send troops home after serving 12 months in Iraq and to deploy fighting units together, rather than substituting new soldiers on an individual basis -- a so-called "spare parts" policy that proved disastrous in Vietnam.

Lawrence Korb, assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration, told the Los Angeles Times: "They're driven by the fact that though they claim this was a war of necessity, it's really a war of choice.

"Because it's a war of choice, if they don't get those troops out of there they are going to cause long-term problems for the U.S. military, because they will have horrible reenlistment rates."