Taking Advantage of Our Defeat in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/10/taking_advantage_of_our_defeat.html

<snip>What is left is for us to admit to ourselves that we can not decide what will happen in Iraq. We can not even influence what will happen unless we withdraw.

We are not just fighting and dying in Iraq. Everyday that we are there, we are inspiring our enemies. Those enemies are not just in Iraq, they are in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Lebanon and the Gaza, in "friendly" countries throughout the Muslim world, and even in our backyards.

The enemy sees Americans getting killed and injured; they see Americans seemingly unable to stand-up to or defeat Islamic warriors. The seeming weakness, created as much by our tactical errors and our abundant presence in their lands, attracts a swarm of attackers. Their "success" attracts more.

The dynamics in some ways are like a wild video shooting game: American soldiers pulling the triggers hope to get to the next level, aware that their only chance is killing them first. But there is no next level to get to, and the supply of enemy is not limited by some "programmer" -- some enemy commander -- with only so many soldiers in his formation. The supply is endless.

The smart soldiers and analysts in our system recognize that we need to get out of this dynamic on the battlefield. They have their counter-insurgency doctrines, their clear-and-hold strategies, their intelligence fusion, and they all make sense. The weaknesses though of these alternative military approaches, nonetheless, are twofold. First, as I said earlier, we are not going to increase the level of effort needed to turn the corner. Second, these military solutions continue to ignore the reality of who we are fighting.

[knowbody0]

1. IMO, the sniper video yesterday

showed the absolute futility of the Iraq policy (whatever it's called day to day). What kind of commander could send these kids out in the streets knowing their odds? The Iraqis will fight the occupation FOREVER.

[leftchick]

2. apparently they are trying to call it the war on terror

I actually heard a c-span caller from some college refer to "our soldiers in Iraq fighting the war on terror."

:eyes:

[stillcool]

3. they seem to be calling it..

anything but what it is...a fucking nightmare for all involved.