Conway: Proposal to move Marines not a power grab

Conway: Proposal to move Marines not a power grab
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 2, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — The proposal to remove Marines from Iraq and send them to Afghanistan is neither a power grab nor an attempt to get out of Iraq “while the getting is good,” according to Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway.

In a visit to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in the aftermath of the San Diego County fires, Conway pushed back at critics of his plan to let the Army take responsibility for Iraq while the Marines focus on Afghanistan, playing a major role in the NATO mission there.

The proposal was raised in early October during a closed-door session with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and regional war-fighting commanders, according to an Oct. 10 New York Times story.

Since that story broke, “it has been suggested in some news articles I’ve read that we’re doing it for all the wrong reasons,” Conway told members of the 5th Marine Regiment on Oct. 26.

A member of the regiment had asked whether the Marines were in fact going to focus on Afghanistan exclusively; and if so, how it might affect the regiment’s upcoming deployment as part of the 11,000 troops from Camp Pendleton’s 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

The MEF is scheduled to leave for Iraq before the end of the year.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49971