Re: Democrats Push for Troop Cuts Within Months
Mikeandronda, sorry it took awhile to respond, that whole work thing and not enough time for Iboats...
I said what I said simply because the same agruement is being gone over in the same way, over and over. I see no real dialogue here, just everyone typing their brains out, hoping to out-opinion whoever disagrees. I don't see that anyone ever sees the other persons point of view, or tries to understand why that person sees the situation the way they do.
For example: Send in even more troops, don't withdraw. One of the very basic things I learned in the military is when a battleplan is not working, you devise and implement a new plan. Men and equipment do not come in an unlimited supply, so an intelligent planning process must be implemented. I could be wrong, and I will apologize in advance if I am wrong, but it seems the people who are the most opposed to troop redeployment are those who have not spent time behind a rifle. I do not see any of these people coming on and saying they have convinced their brothers/sisters/sons/daughters to join. My nephew wanted to join the Marines and as opposed as I am to this war, I told him if he chooses to join, at least enter an MOS that has some transferability into the civilian sector after his commitment is up. I did not discourage him from joining, even though I knew I would probably be attending his funeral or watching him learn to use his new fake leg. In the end he chose not to join, and that is fine.
Terrorism cannot be fought using conventional tactics. Terrorism must be fought cell by cell, terrorist by terrorist. The idea that the world will look at us as being weak if we redeploy is not accurate. A redeployment lets the world know that we are getting our military back where it needs to be, and lets the world know we will be ready for the next major action, if such action is needed. Right now, we are wide open, defenseless. I have said it on other posts with no response, and I'll say it again. Just how prepared are we to fight an Iran or a North Korea right now?
More troops and more tanks and more helicopters in Iraq is pointless when you are fighting an enemy that consists of groups of insurgents that can disappear into a sea of similar people. This is not like fighting the Soviet Union where you know that the guys with the red star and the T-72s or BMP2s of the Hind-Ds are the enemy and they are all grouped over the next ridge. These are people dressed like everyone else driving around in Toyotas carrying RPGs or just loaded with explosives and dead-mens switches. You cannot fight that with conventional means, you just can't.
Iraq will fall into civil war, and they will work their mess out whether we are there or not. We distabilized the country by removing Saddam, now we have to own that responsibility. That does not mean we have the ability to fix it. We can't fix everything, despite our best attempts.
Yes, a redeployment might look weak to those on here that don't know of any other way to solve this problem, but for the rest of the world, a redeployment and an attack on terrorism cell by cell, killing them in their kitchens, is what will strike fear into the heart of terrorism. Right now, they have nothing to fear, all they have to do is avoid the M1s, the helicopters, and the Bradleys. Its harder to avoids special ops teams moving under the cover of darkness, and its really hard to avoid a cruise missle that has been deployed on that arse after good intelligence have located that cell out in the middle of nowhere.
Work smarter not harder...
