Yes We Can And Are Leaving Iraq

TW: Our troops are leaving Iraq. More slowly than some would like but inexorably nevertheless. I suspect those 30-50K "residual" troops will be in Iraq for a very long time in order to:
1) Deter the Iranians from "joint" maneuvers with their Shia brethren in southern Iraq
2) Deter the Sunnis and Shia from getting too aggressive with our Kurdish allies
3) Make sure we retain a disproportionate amount of influence on several billion bbls. of petroleum products

The other thing that struck me in this article were the "contractor" numbers. There are more "contractors" than U.S. troops. Many of these are not U.S. citizens and their functions vary from slinging hash to maintenance to guard duty. But the numbers speak to how modern military ops have evolved. For better or worse we have farmed out many functions. When folks compare the troop numbers of today to yesteryear it is really an apple and orange comparison. If one combines the "contractors", U.S. troops and (albeit meager) coalition troop numbers, at its peak there were roughly 400,000 "troops" in Iraq.

From WaPo:
"The United States will withdraw about 4,000 troops from Iraq by the end of October, the U.S. military commander in Iraq said in testimony prepared for a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

In his assessment of the war, General Ray Odierno will tell the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee that the United States is on track to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by September 2010.

"We have approximately 124,000 troops and 11 Combat Teams operating in Iraq today. By the end of October, I believe we will be down to 120,000 troops in Iraq," Odierno said in an advance copy of the testimony obtained on Tuesday.

...Odierno said the number of U.S. contractors in Iraq has dropped from 149,000 in January to just over 115,000, saving over $441 million...

President Barack Obama's withdrawal timetable calls for the U.S. combat mission in Iraq to end on August 31, 2010. However, a force of 30,000 to 50,000 troops will remain to train and equip Iraqi forces and proprotect provincial reconstruction teams, international projects and diplomatic staff..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/30/AR2009093000648.html?wprss=rss_world/wires