Joseph Galloway: Robbing Peter to pay Paul in Iraq

[Barrett808]

Robbing Peter to pay Paul in Iraq
Knight Ridder Washington Bureau
By Joseph L. Galloway
July 27, 2006

President Bush this week acknowledged that the news from Baghdad isn't all that good. In truth, it hasn't been very good since the Americans took it in April 2003, then stood by watching as the mobs looted and burned to celebrate their new freedom.

The president said he was sending additional American troops to bolster the failed efforts by some of the 30,000 Americans already there, as well as by the Iraqi army. Their sweeps through a chaotic capital city of 11 million have done nothing to put a lid on an ever-growing sectarian violence that daily kills scores, if not hundreds, of Iraqis.

Bush said the reinforcements for Baghdad would be taken from other areas of the country.

That's called robbing Peter to pay Paul, and it's the greatest enemy of success in counter-insurgency warfare, which is based on providing security and stability for the civilian population of a town or a district.

...

That target may not be reached, but the drawdown is real. There were more than 160,000 American troops in Iraq last December. Today there are 127,000. Not enough Americans to cover the all the bases in this deadly game. There never were, from the start.

It's foolhardy to think that another American brigade, 2,500 to 3,000 troops, is going to make much of a difference in the fetid alleys and squalid slums of Baghdad, the most dangerous city in the world.

(more)

http://www.topix.net/content/kri/0613637299319234713739183209944205347344

[jbfam4]

1. thanks for posting........great article

Last two paragraphs:

"It's the soldiers and Marines who are still there, many on their second or third combat tours, who continue to pay the price for poor leadership, half-baked tactics and no strategy worthy of the name.

Say a prayer for them tonight, and every night. That's more support than they'll get from the halls of power in Washington. "

[cliss]

3. Wow.....that was one of the most

riveting posts I've read since joining the DU....about 5 years ago.

OMG....what does that tell you about Washington? Horrific....

[bemildred]

2. The end is getting closer. nt