So, when at war, isn't the objectve to win or is it to win all the easy battles? I am not saying balls to the wall, but we are at war. I couldn't decide on this war and after the lies, it is easy to be against it. But, I think the anti-war crowd is willing to use battle against the whole effort, as an example. What else would you expect our military to do? What would any of you do, military training notwithstanding.
Are the insurgents gonna be wearing bullseyes on their shirts so we know whom to shoot at? That'd be damn decent of them, I must say.
Part of taking the city will involve disarming it. Essentially that's what they'll be doing. Disarming everyone. Shooting anyone who resists. Rounding up bad guys as they attempt to escape. House by house. Block by Block. Then the Iraqis will attempt to hold the city. They failed dismally at this in April. Their recent performances indicate they've improved. We're going to find out.
Get behind this war; let's kill everything we see. Keep heaven filled with fresh souls. God loves the Marines. God...was here before the Marine Corps...
We could just kill them all. I'm sure God would recognize his own. Good thing you're distancing yourself from the U.S., Ivory Tower. I mean, no one would ever act that way in Europe.
And some will say NO WAY am I going up against such a force, a force willing to take their own deaths. If you are talking about you and me, sure we don't want to see anyone killed, but Osama banked on that. He boasted about it. A George Bush, who just ran his last campaign, will have nothing to lose but the people he sends to war. He is thinking about his place in history, like a D-Day invasion of sorts where he will look strong because he took the risk. These next four years will be about a man who was not much of a student, not much of a airman/soldier, not much of a family man (drugs and drinking), not much of a business man, not much of anything but a snake oil salesman, and not much of a president...but is looking to build that "historical" legacy. Not many war crimes come against the "winners" of a war.
You know those complicated plays football coaches put on the chalkboard with the Xs and the Os? On the chalkboard, all the Os get blocked and the X with the ball scores a touchdown every time.
Hoo boy did you misread my post. No problem. I've stated before and I state now, we should have done this a long, long time ago. Letting that hell hole simmer was a huge mistake driven by political sensibilities. George Bush declared this war to be over, again, a long, long time ago. It obviously wasn't then and isn't now. I'm all for winning the d@mn thing, but am allowed to harbor the sentiment that we are going about winning the d@mn thing in a very confusing and counter productive way. I still maintain that the nearly 200 soldiers, on our side alone, who died the first time we "invaded" Falluja died for nothing. The injured were injured for nothing. We retreated on the grounds of political heat and here we are again, that FVCKING STINKS. Please, let's just do it right this time?
We're in this nightmare too deeply to not attack, but I really do wish we hadn't gotten to this point in the first place. I wonder how much of what is actually going on there will be shown in the US. I'm guessing less than 25%. Necessary wars are terrible. Unnecessary wars are infinitely worse.
Worst part is we are about to enter a battlefield where the enemy has been patiently waiting since the invasion began. We'll no doubt eventually "win", but my goodness it has the potential for being quite ugly. Fingers crossed that it goes as smoothly as humanly possible.
Maybe if more than 1.6% of Democrats thought of Lieberman as more than a DINO, you wouldn't have wrote that.
Had to happen, I just hope when this is over we can make it stick. Bottom line is this needed to have been done months ago, but we didnt have the troops. I still dont know if we have the troops to make it stick. I hope to god this works.. if it doesnt we are so ********ing screwed.
We had the troops. The minute enough of them started dying to really cause a public reaction we withdrew, retreated if you will, and here we go again. But I agree on the rest, I hope we get this done and make it stick. And yes, if this assault does not go our way in a hurry we are gonna take it on the chin. It won't be pretty, but we need to wait and see how it plays out. Sh!t might just be a brilliant victory. Who knows right now.
Thats not when I meant. I meant far earlier, part of our initial goal should have been occupying the ENTIRE country, immediately filling the vacuum left by Sadam. We didnt have the forces to do that, so we let our enemies to get organized since.
Ah, I see. My bad. It also brings into question the strategy of rushing to Baghdad, ensuring the Iraqi forces become scattered on the winds, ammo dumps get left unguarded, and worst of all the false sense that the greatest danger was past once Saddam was out of the picture. Bush wanted a quick war with a quick conclusion and it has been anything but that. The charge to Baghdad maybe was neccesary, but the swiftness with which the end was declared by my President is disheartening when it seemed obvious then and ever more so now that things were only beginning to get ugly.
This is indeed great stuff and quite a simplification of the reality of the situation. Take stopper4's statement: You destroy the 5000 insurgents while keeping civilian casualties to a minimum. ...and change it to say: You capture the 5000 insurgents while keeping civilian casualties to a minimum and try them in international court. ...and what you're now hearing is something that a Left Winger would say. Very easy to do on paper, much harder to do on location.
WHERE IS THE U.N.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Ther ain't in DARFUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! F THE u n
Unfortunately there's no way they're going to be able to take the place by just bombing it alone. Boots on the ground is the only way to hold territory in war, and that means infantry. And infantry means that there are going to be US casualties. I'm hoping against hope that the Iraqis holding the city will just surrender without a fight.
Where is the "Quick reaction force from the E. U.?????? Are they STILL relying on the U.S. to help???