Posted on 06/08/2015 10:09:38 AM PDT by raptor22
The detachment from reality of that great military strategist, former House Speaker and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, has been well documented, from her defense of ObamaCare and the millions of jobs it would create instantly and that you had to pass to find out what’s in it, to her current fable -- that the rise of the barbaric Islamic State and its victory over Iraqi forces we trained is, as the Democratic mantra now goes, the fault of President George W. Bush in general and Gen. David Petraeus in particular:
Reporter: “General Petraeus said last night that we are losing the war in Iraq. How do you see it?”
Pelosi: “Well General Petraeus had the responsibility to train the troops in Iraq. I remember going over there on any number of occasions and hearing from him that he had trained 175,000 Iraqi troops and personnel so that they can take over their own effort. I would ask him about that. I think the number was far smaller than was represented to us.”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
PELOSI SCAPEGOATS PETRAEUS PING
Should have been a comma behind “well” instead of a dash. “Well, trained Iraqi army”
Thanks raptor22.
Nancy Pelosi’s credibility notwithstanding, can we trust anything Petraeus says or does?
His irresponsibility is something that’s very hard to understand or forget. Not at his level.
PELOSI SCAPEGOATS PETRAEUS PING
Which one to believe, the lying liar or the liar that’s always lying?
All the training in the world cannot instill a desire to stand and fight. Or to charge a machine gun.
Training lower enlisted and junior officers does not take a long time. Building an NCO and Officer corps and developing good mid level and senior leaders does take a long time. We did not stay long enough for any of that to happen. I think it is probably true that Iraqi Army soldiers were reasonably well trained when we left and degraded over time without good senior level leadership or guidance.
PELOSI SCAPEGOATS PETRAEUS POING
I don’t think we know the “whole story.”
Between Petraeus and Pelosi, I’ll take Petraeus 100 to one over her.
How “deep” was his “irresponsibility?” Was he the scapegoat for this Administration’s Treason? Hopefully, one of these days we’ll know the truth. Somehow, I can’t help but think of Rommel’s end.
A leader is responsible for results in the areas that they control.
Petraeus never turned down a promotion, so he must have wanted to be in control.
He deserves part of the blame.
Obama was and is responsible for foreign affairs for our country. He has made a hash of it. He bears the burden of being the person most responsible for our military problems.
Just because a person can have a job doesn’t mean that person should take the job if he can’t handle it. Obama was never prepared to be President. The Democrat Party nominated him and elected him.
The Democrat Party is responsible for our military problems.
Don’t like how things are going in Iraq and Afghanistan? Don’t vote Democrat.
The issue with the Iraqi security forces isn’t training, it’s leadership and logistical support.PM Maliki purged the Sunni Generals the instant we pulled out. He appointed Shiite lackeys to those posts. Many of them had no military training. Many of the rank and file Sunni soldiers said screw it and left. As for logistics, the Iraqi govt corruption prevents the beans, bullets, and band-aids from getting to the units that need them most. Putting this on Petreus is crap.
I will be buying myself a bottle of champagne when that woman retires.
It’s not the training. It is hard to take a person, or a nation of people, who has never had any free will over their own life and then free that person from a tyrannical dictator, and then expect them to stand up and fight for their freedom.
If they had that desire for freedom in the first place they would have used it against their oppressor.
In Sand Land, ‘Allah’s Will’ trumps training every time.
It was always stated that Bremer made that decision, but I would imagine the order came from Cheney or Rumsfeld.
The assessment of training of the new military and police forces in Iraq was done by the Iraqi Security Forces Independent Assessment Commission which was headed by the recently retired Marine General Jim Jones and made up of retired military and LEOs and that assessment was rolled into the Bush withdrawal timetable. General Jones would become Obama's National Security Advisor, and would leave after the Iraq ramp down and Afghanistan ramp up was complete.
After that, Obama would hire the same 3 men to manage Afghanistan that Bush has managing the surge. General Petraeus, General Allen, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Ryan Crocker was the first US official to sign the Iraq SOFA, along with the Iraqi Foreign Minister. After which it was approve by the Iraq Parliment, after which it Bush and Maliki signed it.
What you say about Maliki purging was true, but there were a lot of other gruesome things going on at the same time.
What you state is very true, and I have always said the biggest mistake we made in Iraq post invasion was to disband the army and police.
What a disaster he was. I'd like to say that at least we learned a lesson from that fiasco. But we learned nothing from Vietnam. Why should this be any different?
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