Although the current agreement with Iraq calls for US military personnel to exit that nation by year’s end, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he sees some benefits to keeping between 8,000 and 15,000 troops there for longer to continue training Iraqi forces. “[The Iraqis] still have a lot of work to do with logistics and things like intelligence,” he told soldiers last week at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. “They basically have no air defense capability.” Gates said Iraqi officials can see benefits to keeping a modest US presence, but the idea remains “political dynamite” for them. “So the question that is unsettled at this point is whether the Iraqi leadership will come together and all the different factions will hold hands and jump off the cliff together in terms of seeking authority and going forward with a continuing US presence,” he said. (AFPS report by John D. Banusiewicz)
Members of the House Armed Services Committee say the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile program has been set back three months due to the ongoing government shutdown. The comment is noteworthy because the JATM's status has been kept tightly under wraps.
