command. Some operational logic -- that's the pro side.

The cons: Long way from the ocean. The Army is still going to have to keep many of its support elements in place; the Navy can and would pick up some but only the Army has some of the pieces. The Air Force will not be pleased -- they really don't like Marine air anyway and they'll have to fly the long haul cargo support missions.

TBD: The Marines get to leave an unpopular war and go to one that has more support, the Army's gonna be in Iraq no matter what so they may not care all that much -- or they may. The NATO relationship and NATO input, if Canada goes in 2009, who picks up the slack? Marines? I don't have access to the intel but based on what I see, I think we'll be in combat in Afghanistan longer than we are likely to be so engaged in Iraq...

Interesting to see where that idea goes. My suspicion is that the answer will be parochial political, based on Stars and not operationally relevant...