Alot of what i think we should do is almost to late to do. We were not allowed to engage Fedayeen Saddam while we were moving up toward Bagdad. These are the guys we're fighting now. I would not have dismantled the Army and Police.
If we want to win, we'd restrict the media...sorry but they need to go. We would tell Iran that if we get solid proof that Revolutionary Guard are caught inside Iraq, or that we see anymore molten core penetrator IED's, we're going after them. Not on the ground mind u....but pounding the shit outa targets from the air. I would then split the country. I'd pull troops back to major bases or Kuwait. I'd use SOF to hunt and kill AQ inside Iraq.
They were not criminals....they were jihadist nutbags. They had no plan but to cause death. Criminals have something, generally financial, to gain. Criminals don't kill themselves in robberies or crimes, they try and get away. Your missing the point and by doing so understating the threat. I can call them whatever the heck i want....they're killing my fellow soldiers. These guys won't like u or any other Lib because u might label them "freedom fighters". If they stopped fighting we'd leave and they'd have all the freedom they could handle. In any case..we are in Iraq and we have to win. Losing will invite further attacks.
Those are valid points. The de-Bathification of Iraqi governmental forces was a horrible call
I conclude from your comment re the media that you don’t want to have every military move on video. Whether that’s apt or not is up for discussion, but as with the de-bathification, you can thank the current administration for putting you in this position with embedded reporters.
As for Iran, it is not the place of the troops to decide to go after them. The ROE for Iran is still in the province of the politicians. Since it was obvious prior to the invasion of Iraq that the Shia Iran would align itself with the de facto ruling Shia majority of Iraq, it seems Iranian influence should have been anticipated.
The civil war already split the country along sectarian lines. As for using SOF to kill Al Qaeda in Iraq…there is very little Al Qaeda presence in Iraq compared with the total composition of the “insurgency”.
I beg to differ with you that the 9/11 terrorists were not criminals; the 9/11 attackers were criminals in every sense of the word. From the conspiracy all the way to the murders; The wrongful act by the fact of itself is a criminal act.
You are mischaracterizing the terrorist threat and as a result, overstating it. The people that are killing your fellow soldiers are largely Iraqi people reacting to the invasion and occupation. That is a natural reaction if you think about it. Put yourself in the shoes of an Iraqi citizen and try to conclude otherwise.
You presuppose only dual options—win (how do you define victory?) or lose (how do you define losing?). Does a phased withdrawal constitute a loss? We have no legal or moral footing for staying in Iraq.
Are you aware of the “redirection” policy that the US government is currently using?
“To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria.
A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.” Flynt Leverett, a former Bush Administration National Security Council official, told me that “there is nothing coincidental or ironic” about the new strategy with regard to Iraq. “The Administration is trying to make a case that Iran is more dangerous and more provocative than the Sunni insurgents to American interests in Iraq, when—if you look at the actual casualty numbers—the punishment inflicted on America by the Sunnis is greater by an order of magnitude,” Leverett said.
“This is all part of the campaign of provocative steps to increase the pressure on Iran. The idea is that at some point the Iranians will respond and then the Administration will have an open door to strike at them.” http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/03/05/070305fa_fact_hershThe Bush administration is trying mightily to rope Iran into a war.
