Iraq Evacuation Plans Prepared

Wayne Madsen: Our Pentagon sources report that plans for a massive and quick U.S. military evacuation from Iraq have been drawn up -- and that they borrow heavily from the U.S. evacuation experience in South Vietnam.

Pentagon and U.S. Central Command contingency planners, fully expecting a major insurgent offensive against U.S. forces in Iraq that will result in a mandatory U.S. military withdrawal, have already identified evacuation staging locations, including from the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone and Baghdad International Airport. Other evacuation points reportedly include major hotels and U.S. military bases in Iraq. It is planned that evacuees will be airlifted by plane and helicopters to U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf, Kuwait, Jordan, and Germany.

British forces in Basra have also drawn up evacuation plans.

With Anbar province already lost to the insurgents and much of the country in turmoil, the failure of the United States to evacuate in the face of an all-out insurgent offensive could result in a number of U.S. forces being taken prisoner by insurgent forces. And with the recent decision of Congress to permit torture of enemy prisoners, the fate of a large number of U.S. military and civilian prisoners in insurgent hands has Pentagon officials extremely worried.