New York Times – Robert Kaplan writes that whatever the future holds for Iraq, within a year or two there will be far fewer American troops there, and the debate over whether our military is overstretched may subside. Yet because of a bloody counterinsurgency that no one in the military wants to repeat, Iraq has profoundly affected the Pentagon’s deployment strategies as it shifts toward a greater emphasis on the Pacific Rim while still facing a profusion of terrorist-related threats not just in the Middle East but also in Africa and elsewhere.
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