CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (Reuters) - A pole-dancer's pole and strobe lights, packs of six-year-old spoiled meat and a brand new, unused van -- just some of the equipment in Iraq that has turned up in the American military withdrawal.
The drama of bombing raids and firefights transmitted on live television marked the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, but for those last out of the door, packing up to go home is a more humdrum and often tedious business.
More than three million pieces of military equipment spread throughout Iraq and worth around $36.4 billion (22 billion pound) must be accounted for before a U.S. troop withdrawal due by the end of 2011."I can't believe how much crap has accumulated," said Gunnery Sergeant Gwen Sanders at a U.S. military transport hub in Kuwait, returning to Iraq to catalogue equipment.
"Nobody really paid attention to accountability until the drawdown push. A lot of squadrons are complaining: 'Why just because I'm the last out here do I have to clean up after everyone?'" she added.The U.S. Third Army, responsible for equipment and personnel transfer, is preparing for a surge in activity.
Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq since the worst of the sectarian bloodshed triggered by the U.S. invasion, Iraq's army has grown in size and confidence, and the country's leaders are keen to assert Iraqi sovereignty and independence.But much hinges on the outcome of a general election in January, a milestone for Iraq's fragile democracy, and on whether Iraq can defend itself as U.S. forces withdraw.
Twin suicide bombs that killed at least 155 people in Baghdad Sunday cast doubt on the abilities of Iraq's security forces. U.S. military leaders are reluctant to risk shifting assets out of Iraq too fast in case they might be needed again."We're gearing up, given a peaceful, successful election, for a dramatic increase in drawing down equipment," said Brigadier General Mark MacCarley, a senior military logistician, at Camp Arifjan, the Third Army's headquarters in Kuwait.
HERDING CATSSome work has been done, despite the uncertainty.
The number of U.S. military vehicles moved out of Iraq has recently doubled to about 3,000 a month and units have been assigned to track down and register U.S. equipment before it is either repatriated, redeployed, sold off or given free to Iraq.Expansion of customs capacity, such as vast halls to search departing troops and their bags and workshops to clean vehicles before their return to the United States, has started.
MacCarley promised the "best planned and best executed" transfer of personnel and equipment in modern military history, and was determined to avoid the mistakes of the 1991 U.S.-led Desert Storm campaign to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation."We had significant losses of equipment. Some was found years later, some was lost. We're not going to allow that to happen again," he said.
Most U.S. equipment and personnel leaving Iraq goes through Kuwait, the main gateway to U.S. operations in the Middle East and a hub for troops deploying to Afghanistan.At a sprawling tent city for U.S. military personnel going through Kuwait, officials are preparing for the departure of more than 100,000 U.S. troops from Iraq. "It's like herding cats, we have so many personnel going through," said camp transit director Lieutenant Colonel Cecile Warren.
The camp handles 2,000 to 3,000 people a day, with most streaming off planes and first heading for the golden arches of the on-site McDonald's burger outlet.At one tent, half the space is dedicated to processing mostly grim-faced troops for their next deployment, and the other half -- the "happy side" -- deals with troops going home.
(Editing by Michael Christie)
