US troops increasingly disillusioned at continuing ability of insurgents to strike them

[bigtree]

Stranded by the surge

Thursday July 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


US troops are increasingly disillusioned at the continuing ability of insurgents to strike at them - and the longer tours of duty being imposed by Washington, Guardian photographer Sean Smith's latest film from Iraq reveals.

Smith spent just over a month embedded with American forces in Iraq's largest province, Anbar, and the so-called "triangle of death" south of the capital, Baghdad.

The US president, George Bush, has cited Anbar as a success story. The province has seen a big drop in violence and some of the local leaders have banded together to fight al-Qaida. Tactics that have worked in Anbar - the creation of smaller bases and more patrols, watchtowers,.all designed to deny ground to the insurgents - are being replicated in the triangle of death.

Yet while Smith was there, months into Mr Bush's troop "surge", the insurgents still managed to kill four soldiers and one translator and kidnap three other personnel.

"The smaller bases in the triangle of death were supposed to deny the insurgents any place they could run to, yet they pulled off something as audacious as that," said Smith.

Smith, who was embedded with the 2nd Brigade 10th Mountain Division south of Baghdad, and with the Marines in Anbar, was in Iraq when the White House announced an extension of duty for army troops to 15 months from a year. That did not go down well with some of the men he filmed.

"Going home in September is positive. Going home in November is not positive," said one soldier, in an indication of the enormous pressure American troops are under. Even US commanders have admitted that the 30,000-strong troop surge, which started in February, is unsustainable.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2135395,00.html

[whistle]

1. The Iraq surge has been nothing but the Bush administration's efforts

...to increase American targets in Iraq, widen the conflict and invite expanded war with Iran, Syria and other countries in the region. :wtf:

[Amonester]

2. Ding! Ding! Ding!

And the price is Right.

The obscenely rich war-profiteering contributors to both parties have won (the jackpot). :grr:

Count most of the losers there:

http://icasualties.org/oif/

and there:

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

:mad:

[xchrom]

3. hmmm -- i don't know what to think about a soldiers expectations that the

insurgents wouldn't be able to hit them.

there is something very disturbing about that revelation.

my very first thought was too many video games -- i don't know why -- but that was my first thought.

[bigtree]

4. increasing ability

the commanding general mentioned today that shelling into the 'protected' green zone has gotten more accurate

[xchrom]

5. whether i think the war is right or wrong is one issue --

but i've been having serious, serious issues with the inability of our military to deal with a situation like iraq.

it's never, ever right to invade a country like iraq.

however -- the ability to invade, occupy and stem the violence should not -- on a technical, practical, strategic level not be beyond the pentagon -- but apparently it is.

this is very, very troubling to me.

and mind you -- i'm am smeone who wants to see the pentagons budget cut and a whole bunch of other things.

but this just bothers me -- and i know that the chinese, the russians and others are taking very close notes of our tactics -- or troops performances and our generals.

we have a problem -- that doesn't have anything to do with iraq.

i wanna know -- what is happening in the pentagon -- who is getting promoted and why?

[genie_weenie]

6. The key with Guerilla Warfare, as always

and which has been noted since, TE Lawrence is guerilla forces need not (and prefer not) to engage large concentrations of enemies (US military). All they have to do is avoid being transfixed and destroyed, illicit a passive acceptance by the civiliand population and peck away at the enemy force in hopes of causing him to overreact (Hadithah/ increased airstrikes this year) and of demoralizing him by the constant tension and fear of death.

Eventually, the US is going to leave Iraq but right up until the day of eggress, you can be assured those in the Pentagon and those who are deluding themselves and others will be saying "we are winning, report the good news, victory is within reach..."

[bridgit]

7. so-called american 'war planners' are more to the point career mili-ticians...

if you will, sailing right past Sun Tzu - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x31457 with their own salary justifications that are in the end unable to plan for war, or identify even a simple target offered by an enemy, any enemy, but for they encroaching upon their black & unspeakable, immoral budget process