Are our troops in Iraq just hiding?

[Bonobo]

I have thew feeling they are just hunkered down in their bunkers and the deaths occur when they inevitable convoy goes out to deliver food, gas or other things...

How true do you think this assessment is?

All opinions most welcome.

[Jacobin]

1. Yes. They stay in bunkers large and small

When they leave the bunkers in convoys, they are shot and and hit with IEDs.

We have zero control of the country. Even in the Green Zone, random mortar attacks occur over the walls.

[babylonsister]

2. But...

Iraq's going swimmingly, according to the RNC!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1682696

[QuettaKid]

4. would YOU want to go out and get stuck in the middle

of a civil war?

[Jacobin]

11. That "is" the 'good news'

:hi:

[kentuck]

3. More or less....

There cannot be a lot of casualties before the election.

[Rosemary2205]

5. It's my understanding

all of Baghdad except the green zone has been turned over to Iraqi police/security. American forces will come in and help only if Iraqi forces call them and ask - which appearantly they don't do because they are often in cahoots with the gunmen.

This from a neighbor deployed in the Baghdad green zone. He said calling the situation in Baghdad anything less than civil war is inaccurate.

[Minnesota Libra]

6. Well, if one of my buddies got blown up every time they ventured.........

....out in the open - yea, I think I'd be tempted to "hunker down" in bunkers or where ever I could find safe cover - especially if there was no way to get out of that truly dangerous area. So I guess I can't blame them if that's what they've started doing.

[Bonobo]

7. I'm not blaming the troops for that, friend. You misunderstand.

I'm just underscoring out the ridiculousness of the charade.

[Minnesota Libra]

9. Oh ok, I thought you were suggesting maybe they..............

.....shouldn't be hunkering down. I misunderstood - and I'm glad I did understand. This government needs to get our people out of their ASAP.

[Jacobin]

12. The only 'blame' from my perspective

Is the idiots in charge of the United States who started this insanity.

The troops are doing what their commanders tell them to do as best they can. The commanders are doing what Rumsfeld/Cheney tell them to do, which of course is not attainable.

[genie_weenie]

8. Well, not hiding but

the military is engaging the populace less often then those halycon days of "Mission Accomplished" since the insurgents have been able to figure out how to effectively operate.

Also you don't see mnay big time operations like that 101st Airborne Op earlier this year.

Here's a link to the Orwellian Multi-NAtional Force Iraq CJTF-7 Website
http://www.cjtf7.army.mil/

For the insurgents It's simply a matter of shooting a few mortars everyday or so, placing a mine/IED and enaging in small arms fire at targets of opportunity until we leave.

[Drum]

10. That's been my impression for a long time....

Fearing getting flamed here on the board---for being mis-read as "unsupportive"---I privately ask: Just What Are They All Doing?

They can't re-build, they aren't actually defeating any enemy, and as far as GWB says, military/combat action (or whatever is the phrase-o-the-day) ceased long ago. The Iraqi people are still getting massacred every day, so evidently defending the citizens isn't isn't a huge priority or one that is proving to be very effective. And winning hearts & minds seems to have yielded to seeing hearts and minds (and arms and legs) littering the streets.

So yes, Bonobo...I do think that. What the hell ARE 100K+ actually DOING there?

[Lowell]

13. From what I've heard from two friends

serving with the 4th ID in Baghdad they are getting hit from both sides right now. A few days ago one grunt told me about a detail he was on just outside the green zone. His squad was detailed with picking up bodies of dead Iraqis. They were pinned down on both sides by Sunnis and Shiites for several hours. No, our boys and girls are not hunkered down in their bunkers. They are caught in the middle of a pile of shit. The events in Lebanon are just taking the attention away to the awful crap going on all over Iraq right now. People back in the world have absolutely no idea how bad things really are.

[GreenTea]

14. Occupying in the "Green Zone" protecting the oil fields & saying fuck the

rest of Iraq -- Keep the casualties low, to avoid bad press and just protect what they are really there for...THE OIL FIELDS!!!