Sen. Biden: Send MORE troops to Iraq!

[Bluebear]

Two top U.S. lawmakers on Sunday called for more American troops to be sent to Iraq, but the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that was "very unlikely."

Sens. Joseph Biden and John McCain said there were not enough U.S. forces to fend off insurgent attacks and not enough Iraqi forces are trained to take over from the 138,000 U.S. soldiers there.

Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat, said fewer than 3,000 Iraqis are fully trained to take over from their American counterparts.

"We have another probably 20 to 30 battalions out there that, with embedded U.S. military, are able to do a serious, positive job. After that, it falls off the cliff," the Delaware senator said on NBC'S "Meet the Press."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050814/ts_nm/iraq_usa_forces_dc&printer=1

[Deja Q]

1. Why can't he go enlist himself?

[fujiyama]

15. He's kinda old (though I remember that pic of that one old man in combat)

but his son is the perfect age. IIRC, he's in his thirties. Perfect age for this.

Instead his son works at MBNA I believe...Yeah, the bastards that basically wrote that bill that passed several months ago.

[Richard Steele]

2. Good old Joe! At least he's consistent in his lap-doggedness.

[RagAss]

3. He on course to get about 6% of the New Hamphire Primary vote..

:smoke:

[fujiyama]

16. Can't ya just feel the new round of Joementum?!

nt

[Dogmudgeon]

4. In a way, he's right

We went in unprepared.

The real sound-bite from Biden is that we're stuck there, and Iraq has fewer than 3000 of its own able to take over from the Coalition of the Willing. That's even more pitiful than the under-manned and under-trained ARVN during Nixon's "Vietnamization" of that war.

We sent 150-odd-thousand troops into a charnal house bare-ass naked, and thought we'd have the Iraqis throwing flowers at us instead of blowing as many of those troops' limbs and heads off as they can.

The next stop is Iran, which will require upwards of a million troops to occupy.

In the military, I believe they call this a "clusterfuck".

--p!

[nosmokes]

6. no, he's not right.

bushole/rummy definitely went in without enough troops and that is a large part of why iraq is such a fucked up place today, but that doesn't mean that sending more troops NOW is gonna be able to fix it. the resistance is growing and it will continue to grow as long as iraq is occupied by foreign, especially american, troops. we need to get the hell outta there if america withdrew i say the terrorism against civilians would cease within a matter of weeks. one thing i know for sure. as long as we're there, or a puppet govenment we installed is in power, there will be no peace in iraq.

[Panda1]

8. It's true we were unprepared...

..but that's not the solution. I think he's wrong.
It's the Vietnam trap all over again...send more troops. I vote no.
I'm sick of his Hawkish statements.
He's had his moments of spouting reasonable sound bites but mostly he disappoints me.
I don't want him as our nominee in 2008, but he does.
It's just politics to him.

I do agree that the number of Iraqis prepared to take over is WAY too low.
Not only were we unprepared, we appear to be incompetent.

No more troops to Iraq, Mr. Biden.

1,853
http://icasualties.org/oif

[JDPriestly]

11. When Nixon wrenched our troops out of Viet Nam,

we left many, many Vietnamese behind. They were placed in prison camps for re-education, abused. Who knows how many died? We do know that many were so desperate that they boarded flimsy boats, risking their lives to get away from the fates that awaited them after we left. We have no idea how many Vietnamese drowned or otherwise lost their lives trying to escape.

We can't do that now. We can't leave the Iraqis who have cooperated with us in good faith in the lurch. When we leave, we have to do it in an orderly manner, and we have to ensure that those who have supported us do not face the wrath of the insurgents and their disgusted countrymen alone. Most of them are just ordinary, law-abiding Iraqis who want a better life. They do not deserve to be abandoned to the fanatics who will take over if we just walk away. They are innocent. What do those of you who propose just leaving tomorrow plan to do about good people (not talking about crooked Iraqis on the take, of which I presume there are a few if not many) who innocently bought into Bush's promises of a better life?

[Dogmudgeon]

14. I'm not sure I was clear enough

I didn't mean to imply that Biden (and McCain) was right, without equivocation. I meant that he was right in a way. And that "way" is simple -- we (Bush) not only did a Bad Thing, but did it badly.

If we don't leave Iraq, we guarantee more death, from the meat-grinder violence. If we DO leave Iraq, we guarantee more death, from the backlash against Iraqis perceived to have been in the employ of the USA.

Bush never learned the first Rule Of War: There is no way to win. You simply get several choices about how to lose. You pick the least-bad choice and you try to pretend it's going to be okay. Which also means that you don't do it on a whim or for emotional satisfaction.

I wasn't praising Biden's alleged wisdom (I don't think he has any). I just think Biden knows how badly Bush has screwed over Iraq, America, and every third party to this clusterfuck.

--p!

[glaucon]

5. Someone tell Biden and McCain

THE WAR IS OVER!

[Disturbed]

7. Amerika is NOT at War.

There are no Wars. There are two Occupations.

[bullimiami]

9. where the f are you going to get them joe?

i dont like you joe...i really dont.

[Just Me]

10. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

@#!>&%@! :grr: DAMNIT!!!! :argh:

[BrotherBuzz]

12. Fewer than 3,000 trained Iraqi troops?

I swore I heard Condi Rice talking numbers around 120,000 a few months back. Boy, I'm really confused. Someone is lying.

[DemocracyInaction]

13. We could have sent 10 million troops in from the get go and

we still would be getting the living shit blown out of us. It makes no difference if we leave a half hour from now or 40 years from now. Once we board the bus, every ugly, greedy, power hungry bastard this side of hell is going to start a civil war. In the end, it will become as it was in the beginning: someone who makes Sadaam look like Jesus but with the backing of the US government. We will pay him to slit the Iraqi's throats and pump his oil our way.