The U.S. military is continuing its withdrawal from Iraq following 8 years of war, in one of the biggest redeployments of American troops since World War II.
The army is expecting to meet President Obama’s goal of getting the American soldiers home by Christmas. Only 8,000 troops remain on just five American bases - down from more than 500 bases at the war's height.
With most of the heavy machinery and cooking supplies already dispatched to Kuwait and back to the U.S., the remaining American soldiers are living off bottled water and pre-packaged MREs on their way out of the country.
“There were a lot of amenities offered by the installation. All of that is gone,” one American soldier told Al-Jazeera English. “There’s no Taco Bell, no Burger King,”
More from GlobalPost: 8,000 US troops left in Iraq, down to zero by end of year
So how does the U.S. redeploy a massive army that once numbered 170,000 troops with equipment? And how much does it cost?
Here's a look at some of the numbers:
- As of 2009, the U.S. army had 2.8 million pieces of equipment in Iraq - from personal supplies to armed vehicles
- There are currently 65 lanes carrying up to 3,000 American vehicles of traffic each day
- It took 4,000 vehicles to recently move 1 million tons of equipment, which was redeployed in under two months, according to VOA
- 900 American pickup trucks will be left behind for the Iraqi government
- Leaving some equipment in Iraq will save the U.S. at least $600 million in shipping costs
- Other equipment and bases left for the Iraqis cost the U.S. billions of dollars
- Some estimates place the total cost of withdrawal in the tens of billions of dollars range
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-casbah/us-withdrawal-iraq-the-numbers
Follow us: