The greatest army in the world? What is going on.

[dumpster56]

Yahoo! link to article
Rumsfeld has got to go

We destroyed the place we own it how in the world do we allow this to happen.

Moderator edit: shorter URL

 

[Patrick]

Did you see this in the article? ". . . was under British command until August, when it was returned to Iraqi government control." (emphasis added).

 

[JohnP]

Three and a half years of one major-league screwup after another right after we defeated the Iraqi Army in 3 weeks!!! Doesn't our military do 'Lessons-Learned" any more?

There must be some hidden objective that I just canot see.

JohnP

 

[frayne]

Don't blame the military, they are being directed by our elected officials.

 

[JohnP]

I don't blame the military (other than the enabling 4 stars) - To me, the military did what was asked of them and shut down the IraqiArmy in 3 weeks... and then were forcefully told for 3 years that there was no 'insurgency and/or civil war' and given no appropriate means to maintain a peace.

JohnP

 

[Zathras]

Agreed, I don't blame the military at all. The did excactly as they were asked and have done a great job.

The problem was they were not given the numbers they needed to do the job right. And the original premise of 'we will be greated with flowers as liberators' was so very very wrong.

 

[Gone4Good]

The military does an exceedingly good job doing what it was designed to do . . . kill people and break things.

Nation building was never its strong suit. Having said that, it seems we squandered a major opportunity to achieve our objectives immediately after the fall of Baghdad. I only hope the effort can be salvaged, but it is looking increasingly grim.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Three and a half years of one major-league screwup after another right after we defeated the Iraqi Army in 3 weeks!!! Doesn't our military do 'Lessons-Learned" any more?

There must be some hidden objective that I just canot see.

JohnP

I doubt it. Just stupidity and cluelessness. IOW, business as
usual.

JG

 

[Zipper]

You never should have gone into Iraq in the first place.

The "Crawford Chimp" suckered the UK and Australia and a handful of others.

Canada, Europe and 90% of the world said prove there are WMD.

We're still waiting.

 

[Patrick]

You never should have gone into Iraq in the first place.

The "Crawford Chimp" suckered the UK and Australia and a handful of others.

Canada, Europe and 90% of the world said prove there are WMD.

We're still waiting.

I don't think it ever was about WMD. It certainly wasn't about 9/11 - 18 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but we consider them our "friends." Why? Because they have oil we want. And someone's oil friends make money from them.

I think it was about someone's desire to make the world democratic. Check out http://www.newamericancentury.org/ Take a look at the signers at the bottom of the Statement of Principles. They include Rumsfeld, Cheney and Wolfowitz.

Three and a half years of one major-league screwup after another right after we defeated the Iraqi Army in 3 weeks!!! Doesn't our military do 'Lessons-Learned" any more?

There must be some hidden objective that I just canot see.

Who stands to benefit from an extended war? The military-industrial complex. If you want to make money for your friends, you certainly wouldn't want to end the conflict in 3 weeks and head home. You need to keep up the demand for arms, vehicles, and everything else the military needs to function. Follow the money.

I think we need to get the F&%$ out of there immediately and let the Iraqi government sink or swim on its own merits. This certainly hasn't been worth the lives of our young men and women and isn't worth even one more life. If the animals want to annihilate each other, at least it won't be our people getting killed.

 

[dumpster56]

I don't think it ever was about WMD. It certainly wasn't about 9/11 - 18 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, but we consider them our "friends." Why? Because they have oil we want. And someone's oil friends make money from them.

I think it was about someone's desire to make the world democratic. Check out http://www.newamericancentury.org/ Take a look at the signers at the bottom of the Statement of Principles. They include Rumsfeld, Cheney and Wolfowitz.

Who stands to benefit from an extended war? The military-industrial complex. If you want to make money for your friends, you certainly wouldn't want to end the conflict in 3 weeks and head home. You need to keep up the demand for arms, vehicles, and everything else the military needs to function. Follow the money.

I think we need to get the F&%$ out of there immediately and let the Iraqi government sink or swim on its own merits. This certainly hasn't been worth the lives of our young men and women and isn't worth even one more life. If the animals want to annihilate each other, at least it won't be our people getting killed.

The american people will vote out the republicans in novemeber. Then we can get the heck out of that $hithole Iraq

 

[73ss454]

Wait a second NewGuy, are you saying we should get out or Iraq before we find the WMD's
:

 

[dumpster56]

Wait a second NewGuy, are you saying we should get out or Iraq before we find the WMD's
:

Wmd What a bunch of garbage. the 9/11 animals used our own planes and did an incredible amount of damage to the humans and economy. Since when did americans become so efin scared ??

As Chris Rock said Ef the terrorists I' m from BROOKLYN! Heck I have worked in Newark almost 30 years Ef the g-d darn scum terrorists I am not afraid of these J@ck offs!!

 

[73ss454]

Hey maybe we will dig up some 757's in Iraq.

 

[JohnEyles]

This certainly hasn't been worth the lives of our young men and women and isn't worth even one more life. If the animals want to annihilate each other, at least it won't be our people getting killed.

I do not believe that the vast majority of the Iraqi people deserve to be called
"animals", and it certainly hasn't been worth their lives. The average Iraqi was
way better off under Saddam Hussein. If you were foolish enough to get in his face,
you were in for a world of hurt; if not, it was a pretty decent place to live (or at least
it was before the sanctions following the 90-91 war) at least for a country in the part
of the world.

I never supported Chimpy MacFlightSuit's stupid war, but it's not clear to me that we
don't make things worse by leaving. If that's true, we have a moral duty to stay and
do what we can to fix it (we broke it - we should fix it). Of course, if we simply make
things worse by staying, both the US and Iraq are better off if we leave. I'm starting
to think that's the case, especially after reading the article on the Hadiatha killings in
the latest Vanity Fair (check it out).

 

[sgeeeee]

Wait a second NewGuy, are you saying we should get out or Iraq before we find the WMD's
:

 

[lets-retire]

And yet your safer in Iraq than California.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I do not believe that the vast majority of the Iraqi people deserve to be called
"animals", and it certainly hasn't been worth their lives. The average Iraqi was
way better off under Saddam Hussein. If you were foolish enough to get in his face,
you were in for a world of hurt; if not, it was a pretty decent place to live (or at least
it was before the sanctions following the 90-91 war) at least for a country in the part
of the world.

I never supported Chimpy MacFlightSuit's stupid war, but it's not clear to me that we
don't make things worse by leaving. If that's true, we have a moral duty to stay and
do what we can to fix it (we broke it - we should fix it). Of course, if we simply make
things worse by staying, both the US and Iraq are better off if we leave. I'm starting
to think that's the case, especially after reading the article on the Hadiatha killings in
the latest Vanity Fair (check it out).

"Vanity Fair"?? Are you a girlie man?

JG

 

[dmpi]

At this point. "Cut and run" is the right & prudent thing to do.
In the future we need to make sure this kind of thing never happens again.

 

[frayne]

At this point. "Cut and run" is the right & prudent thing to do.
In the future we need to make sure this kind of thing never happens again.

Deja vu all over again !

 

[JohnP]

Before Iraq, the whole world thought that our military was invincible with it's high-tech weaponry and fabulous logistics capability.

The worst thing about Iraq is that the whole world now knows that the Most Expensive "Greatest Army in the World" can be defeated soundly by a rag-tag bunch of civilians with never-secured explosives and garage-door-openers. Our high-technology weapons are meaningless in this type of insurgency-based warfare.

JohnP

 

[dumpster56]

Before Iraq, the whole world thought that our military was invincible with it's high-tech weaponry and fabulous logistics capability.

The worst thing about Iraq is that the whole world now knows that the Most Expensive "Greatest Army in the World" can be defeated soundly by a rag-tag bunch of civilians with never-secured explosives and garage-door-openers. Our high-technology weapons are meaningless in this type of insurgency-based warfare.

JohnP

This post is exactly what I mean!

we went into Iraq supposedly destroyed the Iraqi army and left the weapons depots unguarded!

Sure we got rid of saddam but we never defeated them. We let them GO HOME and they have come back to fight another day. If you listen to Bush he keeps saying we are gonna WIN. Uh HOW?? unless we send in 300,000 more troops and kill everyone we will win nothing and killing everyone is NOT an option now. If we stay Iraq will look like gaza and the west bank 50 years from now.

 

[Nords]

The average Iraqi was way better off under Saddam Hussein.

I think that quote embodies the ultimate survivor bias...

Before Iraq, the whole world thought that our military was invincible with it's high-tech weaponry and fabulous logistics capability.

Yep, just like the USS THRESHER. And before Vietnam. And the USS PUEBLO. And the USS SCORPION. And the USS LIBERTY. And the SS MAYAGUEZ. And the USS BONEFISH. And Beirut. And Grenada. And Panama. And the USS STARK. And the USS TRIPOLI & SAMUEL B. ROBERTS. And Somalia. Heck, this is just the Navy list.

While the media & politicians may have formed their own impressions of invincibility, every year the mighty U.S. military is humbled by its own. I don't think very many people in uniform believe that they and their shipmates have formed an invincible team, and most veterans are convinced that we only "won" in spite of our own efforts.

Unfortunately the lessons "learned" during exercises are only usually only applied to preparing for the last war. It's just not cost-effective or persuasive to get funding for the "next" war...

 

[JohnEyles]

"Vanity Fair"?? Are you a girlie man?

No, but I hang out with girls sometimes. Don't you ?

 

[Mr._johngalt]

No, but I hang out with girls sometimes. Don't you ?

Not much any more.

JG