Bringing the Troops Home is Always Easier Said Than Done

“Armed forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq,”

explained President Barack Obama while announcing that he was
sending up to 300 military “advisers” back to the country from
which the United States officially withdrew its armed forces in
December 2011. (The New York Times reports
that the U.S. embassy and consulates in Iraq employ about 5,500
Americans, a mix of military personnel, contractors, and
diplomats).

If it seems difficult for American soldiers to leave Iraq once
and for all, it may be because the United States has always liked
to keep military personnel stationed in vanquished countries long
after the battles ended.

Indeed, the U.S. armed forces currently station tens of
thousands of soldiers in countries such as Italy (which surrendered
to the Allies in World War II in September 1943), Germany (May
1945), Japan (August 1945), and South Korea (where fighting ended
in July 1953).

In the latest accounting from the Defense Manpower Data
Center, the United States has about 1.35 million total active
military, including about 160,000 troops stationed
overseas.