http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-746935,00.html

The Times (London)
July 16, 2003

US soldiers' wives revolt as leave is cancelled
for third time in a year
'We want our husbands back now"
by Tim Reid


US army wives were in revolt yesterday after a
promised withdrawal from Iraq for thousands of
soldiers was postponed for a third time.
Wives at the US army base in Fort Stewart, Georgia,
home of the US 3rd Infantry Division, which has been
in the Gulf since September, said that they were
planning to organise a protest march near the base and
run a mass letter-writing campaign to Capitol Hill.
The division has suffered 36 deaths in the war and its
aftermath, more than any other unit.

The protest from the families, told only last week by
Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, that their
husbands would be home by September, elicited a
confused response from the Pentagon and added to the
perception that continued attacks on US troops have
left post-war plans in disarray.

The delayed withdrawal came as India, Pakistan and
France refused to send troops to Iraq, despite
requests from the Bush Administration for military
support. The countries said that they balked at
sending soldiers without a UN mandate, dealing a
significant blow to US hopes of reducing its troop
numbers in Iraq.

As recently as May the Bush Administration said that
it wanted to cut the US military presence there by
about 30,000 to 40,000 troops.

Washington had hoped that India would send a full
division of at least 17,000 troops, making its
contingent the second largest behind the US deployment
of 146,000. The Indian Foreign Ministry said: "Were
there to be an explicit UN mandate . . . the
Government of India could consider the deployment of
our troops to Iraq."

Even before that announcement, 3rd Division
headquarters sent an e-mail to wives on Monday night
telling them that "due to the current level of violent
acts . . . and the potential for violent acts in Iraq"
two thirds of the division, or more than 10,000
troops, would stay indefinitely.

The e-mail was followed 30 minutes later by another
from the base's rear detachment commander. It warned
wives not to write to politicians "or speak to the
media in a negative manner" about the postponement,
otherwise they risked "tarnishing the image" of their
husbands.

Mr Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, the recently
retired coalition commander, told the Senate Armed
Services Committee on Wednesday that the entire
division would be home by the end of next month. On
July 7 MajorGeneral Buford Blount, the division
commander, told his troops that they could expect to
start returning home at the beginning of August.

Denise Gonsales, whose husband is one of the
division's Black Hawk helicopter pilots, said: "Enough
is enough. As angry as it's made us feel, it's my
husband I really feel for. He and his colleagues are
feeling betrayed and lied to. He believes that if they
have been given a date, they should stand by that
date. It's causing morale to really suffer. There is a
tremendous amount of anger here and a tremendous
amount of anger among the soldiers also."

Mrs Gonsales said that she and fellow wives planned to
march in the shopping district of nearby Savannah.
Hundreds have written to their senators and
congressman. "We have to have a voice and we have to
be heard, and we have to have a voice for the soldiers
that are there. They're exhausted. Some are suicidal."


Kim Wallihan, also the wife of a pilot, said: "We were
initially told they would all be home by July 4
(Independence Day), then we were told they would be
out by August. We just want them to set a date and
stick by it, or not set one. It is shocking that they
have broken their promise again."

Another wife, who asked not to be named, said: "The
Army cannot bamboozle families anymore. We get e-mails
every day from our husbands. These men are emotionally
and physically spent. Blount says morale is high, but
we know this is balderdash."

In an attempt to soften the news a Pentagon official
said that Mr Rumsfeld was "committed to the intent" of
having the division out by the autumn. But he added:
"We don't want to nail it down to a month."


British troops are also in Iraq for the long haul,
with some units on their second deployment in six
months (Michael Evans writes). Some reservists,
especially NHS consultants and surgeons called up for
the war, have had to stay for longer than their
expected six-month tours to fill in while regular Army
colleagues went home for a rest.
Units on a second tour include a squadron from the 2nd
Battalion Royal Tank Regiment. Among the first into
Iraq in March, it was sent back after six weeks'
leave.