The average Iraqi has become collateral damage.
So sad but true.
We could start at the begining. Killing anybody who broke curfews and shooting looters. I was there and should have been shooting these people..instead they ran amuck. We should have killed Al Sadr, instead we legitimized his opposition.
Starting at the beginning would have meant not invading in the first place, ...and certainly not without the legitimacy to do so. It would have meant having a proper strategy to not only prosecute the invasion, but also a proper exit strategy. And it surely would have meant getting the job done in Afghanistan. Instead, they've allowed that to go down the pooper to the point where they are now trying to negotiate with the taliban to form part of the government. How does it feel to know you've lost some good men ousting the Taliban, ...only to have members of your Rep congress trying to put the Taliban back in power?
The media bascially forced us to pull out of Falujha 1. I'd have leveled it as we did in part 2.
The media did not force you out of Fallujah. It was the stupidity of the Blackwater mercenaries who so invigorated the local Iraqi's that they massacred Americans, burnt their bodies, and hung the corpses out in the street for all to see. That's what forced you out of fallujah. If the media had the power to force you out, you would have been out of the country already.
Don't blame military failures on the media, ...they're not the ones prosecuting the war. They've been onside since day one selling the war to the American public, and refusing to ask the hard questions they should have. They got their daily memo's from Murdoch, and marched alongside in lockstep. When the media declares war, plans a foreign invasion of a sovereign state, picks up a gun, and starts shooting bullets instead of footage, ...then perhaps maybe they can be considered accountable for military defeats, ...however, as anyone will tell you... wars are not won or lost on the battlefield. They are won prior to the first bullet. The subsequent battles are merely "going through the motions".
Also I would have banned all free lance journalists from the country for 6 months after the invasion.
You mean banning those with an allegiance to the truth? ...as opposed to those with marching orders? Well, ...I suppose it's better than ordering them to domicile in a particular hotel, then flat out slaughtering them with tanks and artillery fire.
I would have made a deal with the Turks and the Kurds that would have allowed us to use Turkish and later Kuwaiti troops to police Bagdad. I would have put Arabs with guns on the streets.
Haven't you heard? ...there are already plenty of Arabs with guns in the streets, ...and they're part of the problem.
I would have fired a small number of bathist generals but kept most and the army and police intact.
I knew that if we kept going long enough, we would find a point of mutual agreement.
I mean ...What on earth were they thinking getting rid of the army & police?
I would have made it clear to every American how bad a guy saddam was, and when no WMDs were found I would have flashed the victims of the gas attacks in the late 80's on the screen on a nightly basis.
It was kind of hard for Rummy to get that across, since he was so complicitous with all his "crimes". Kind of hard to discuss the spawn of satan when you are joined at the hip with him isn't it?
Would you also have included the victims of the gas attacks in the early 90's... you know... the ones Saddam attacked while the Americans were right there. The ones the USA sat back and watched him slaughter right after Gulf War 1, ...or do you think the public might have had some hard questions for Rummy, Cheney, and the rest of the cabal, ...they were afterall, the ones who sat back and allowed it to happen.
I would never have allowed Gitmo..I would have set the jails up far from the prying eyes of the media. Every time the friggen nutbag liberals screamed that their right were being infringed on..i would have flashed up pictures of the WTC's falling and my fellow citizens dying.
They tried that tactic, however, as we all know... Saddam had nothing to do with 911. You can fool some of the people, some of the time... but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
I would have waged a relentless public relations campaign. I would have mobilized for war...gotten Hollywood invloved. I would have done whatever was neccesary to win. Bush has sent mixed signals and Congress has followed.
Again, they have tried this, ...however, the American public is not as stupid as they think. Shock & Awe, only goes so far, and when the initial shock wears off, and people start coming to their senses again, they start to see clearer than they did before. the more they screw up, the longer this thing drags out, and more opportunity the public has to rationalize and make sense of the nonsensical. The more lies thrown out, the more the public sees through it all.
We need an orderly withdrawl that ensures that the place doesn't completely fall apart...I'm not sure thats possible.
Another point we agree on. Wow, ...among the BS bloodthirsty warmongering, you managed to score a hat trick
