Neil Abercrombie: “The publication Inside Defense of July 6 reports, with regard to your estimations as to the cost, this was just prior to…”

“The publication Inside Defense of July 6 reports, with regard to your estimations as to the cost, this was just prior to the advent of the meeting between the Iraqis and the Iranians. A group of advisors, I am now quoting from this July 6 article in Inside Defense. A group of advisors to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is preparing a report warning that the huge costs associated with prolonged bloody operations in Iraq and Afghanistan may become part of a U.S. adversary's strategy. U.S. led operations in these two countries, quote, have tapped out the ground services active and reserve components, unquote, stated June 29, briefing slides prepared for the working group of the Defense Science Board. The Defense Science Board, as my colleagues know, is the group designated to report to the Secretary of Defense on these issues. Quote, we therefore find ourselves without resources for any other campaign at this scale, a prospect not long lost on our adversaries, unquote. The panel was part of the larger Defense Science Board which is doing a study for the Defense Department on transformation. Further quotation, the requirements U.S. forces face in the global war on terrorism to not only prevail in the traditional combat phase of the military operation and restore stability afterwards, but also to establishing a functioning free economy and robust democracy are significant and expensive.…”