Army Stretched to the Breaking Point, Study Finds

AP: WASHINGTON - Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a “thin green line” that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.

Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon’s decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.  | story

Charlie Riedel / AP

Army troops from Fort Riley, Kan., listen to President Bush deliver a speech about the war on terror. Bush spoke Monday, Jan. 23, at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan.