How many troops do we have to replace the ones deployed in Iraq today? You can make a good case the number is zero. But any stab at answering the question punctures the fantasy that the surge is an unalloyed success. And our reluctance to even consider the question tells us something else, that the surge was a sham intended to delay the day of reckoning. From its inception, the Iraq war strategy was like a plan to fly across the Pacific without enough fuel to get to the other side. The surge made the plane fly faster. Apparently, even George Packer doesn't quite get it. So I'll spell it out. Our troops are like jet fuel. "How often can a soldier be put in harm's way and still desire to remain in the Army? The answer is different for every soldier, but the deployment ratio range seems to be somewhere in between 3:1 and 5:1....
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