Tuesday, October 16, 2007
More Officers are Breaking Ranks
12 battle hardened Captains write an Op-Ed in the Washington Post:
If I hear one more delusional sycophant confuse the pseudo-doctrine of Politico-Military Infallibility with the notion of "supporting the troops" I might just have an aneurysm. ¶ 6:35 AM
This is Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reality we experienced. This is what we tried to communicate up the chain of command. This is either what did not get passed on to our civilian leadership or what our civilian leaders chose to ignore. While our generals pursue a strategy dependent on peace breaking out, the Iraqis prepare for their war -- and our servicemen and women, and their families, continue to suffer.I can hear the slime machine cranking up. By lunchtime today these 12 will be labeled traitors and/or phonies by those who are so married to a *political* proposition that throwing a veteran under the bus is their knee-jerk response.
There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.
America, it has been five years. It's time to make a choice.
If I hear one more delusional sycophant confuse the pseudo-doctrine of Politico-Military Infallibility with the notion of "supporting the troops" I might just have an aneurysm. ¶ 6:35 AM
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It's hard to look something so ugly as this mess we're in right in the face. I think that's why we're still pressing on with the mess - we're so addicted to the happy ending that it's hard to acknowledge when it's not possible. It's an ugly ugly situation. But to see 12 captains say "compulsory service or get out now..." That's a very harsh reality.
alison...We are not pressing on with this mess.....King George and his minions are! The plan now is to continue till 08 then dump it in someone elses lap, thereby preserving His legicy of not being the president that lost the war! He is a mad man to be sure!
From a purely military perspective, Iraq is truly no-win.
In the worst case, the troops have to deal with a well equipped, actively hostile insurgency which is indistinguishable from the local populace.
In the best case, they have to act as a police force to a population that they have nothing social, cultural, religious, linguistic or national in common with. And they have to do this with tools that are designed to kill, not to enforce the law.
The USMC has already proposed that the entire Corps be reassigned to Afghanistan, where at least there are bad guys running about in the mountains and they can do what they are trained and equipped to do against them.
That the White House allows and encourages OBL to define the terms of his "victory" in Iraq is insane. OBL lives in a cave somewhere. He has had nothing to do with the goings-on in Iraq.
Whatever happens there is neither victory nor defeat for him.
But the White House wants us to believe, and has publicly stated, that OBL "wins" if we leave. I guarantee that our military commanders have absolutely no idea how to respond to this kind of traitorous rhetoric coming from out own President.
The war gaming we did at Newport never envisioned a President who would betray his own military like this.
Cap'n John
In the worst case, the troops have to deal with a well equipped, actively hostile insurgency which is indistinguishable from the local populace.
In the best case, they have to act as a police force to a population that they have nothing social, cultural, religious, linguistic or national in common with. And they have to do this with tools that are designed to kill, not to enforce the law.
The USMC has already proposed that the entire Corps be reassigned to Afghanistan, where at least there are bad guys running about in the mountains and they can do what they are trained and equipped to do against them.
That the White House allows and encourages OBL to define the terms of his "victory" in Iraq is insane. OBL lives in a cave somewhere. He has had nothing to do with the goings-on in Iraq.
Whatever happens there is neither victory nor defeat for him.
But the White House wants us to believe, and has publicly stated, that OBL "wins" if we leave. I guarantee that our military commanders have absolutely no idea how to respond to this kind of traitorous rhetoric coming from out own President.
The war gaming we did at Newport never envisioned a President who would betray his own military like this.
Cap'n John
# posted by 
: 1:15 AM
: 1:15 AM
Nice comment Cap'n John, very well said. Can you believe the position that dubya had the balls to take the other night regarding Turkey?
# posted by : 5:01 PM
: 5:01 PM
he Armenian genocide resolution has nothing to do with what is happening on the Turkey/Iraq border. If Bush believes that, then he is too stupid to hold his own dick while he pees. Maybe Senator Craig could apply for the job.
The Turks and Kurds have hated each other for a very long time. In fact, among the Turks that I've known in social and military contexts over the last 25 years, it has always been a sure bet that they will completely lose it if I bring up the Kurds. They hate, hate HATE them. Except more than that.
A rough comparison might be the way we would feel if there was a group of al Qaeda terrorist commie bastards who lived on the Mexican border and who, when not blowing stuff up in various US cities, were demanding their own independent state of Osamahatesyoustan which would encompass parts of Texas, New Mexico, and your mother's grave.
The only way for the US to improve the Turkey/Kurd situation is to move a lot of force to the border and to start treating the PKK like the terrorist organization that the Turks consider it to be.
That's not going to happen for a bunch of different reasons, most of them having to do with the incompetence of the pre-war planning, a shortage of troops, and the political unwillingness of this President to start hammering the peaceful, happy Kurds who are supposed to be the one bright spot in Iraq.
The Turks, however, have just about had enough. When they do to the Kurds what they did to the Armenians, Bush will try to pin the massacre on the Democrats in Congress instead of on the generations-old hatefest that we should have planned for going into this thing.
Cap'n John
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The Turks and Kurds have hated each other for a very long time. In fact, among the Turks that I've known in social and military contexts over the last 25 years, it has always been a sure bet that they will completely lose it if I bring up the Kurds. They hate, hate HATE them. Except more than that.
A rough comparison might be the way we would feel if there was a group of al Qaeda terrorist commie bastards who lived on the Mexican border and who, when not blowing stuff up in various US cities, were demanding their own independent state of Osamahatesyoustan which would encompass parts of Texas, New Mexico, and your mother's grave.
The only way for the US to improve the Turkey/Kurd situation is to move a lot of force to the border and to start treating the PKK like the terrorist organization that the Turks consider it to be.
That's not going to happen for a bunch of different reasons, most of them having to do with the incompetence of the pre-war planning, a shortage of troops, and the political unwillingness of this President to start hammering the peaceful, happy Kurds who are supposed to be the one bright spot in Iraq.
The Turks, however, have just about had enough. When they do to the Kurds what they did to the Armenians, Bush will try to pin the massacre on the Democrats in Congress instead of on the generations-old hatefest that we should have planned for going into this thing.
Cap'n John
# posted by : 10:31 PM
: 10:31 PM<< Home
