Myself, I long ago wished that we had some support system set up to provide the technology by which Iraqi's could quickly establish their own free press, and thus exercise their sovereignty and its place under God (a.k.a. in most parts "under Allah") while also asserting their sovereignty above their Constitution, above their goverment, above their governors, and above their government agents.
So I was glad to see Tony's notes on the need for better and much more sources of news and information.
I think, not just ultimately, but actually right now, the real gains are to be made as small groups of Iraqi's associate for the purpose of ensuring and enduring freedom. Their meetings require protection, and also their thoughts require confirmation, in that, in the free press, they also see where others are with them, and so that foundation for their liberty grows.
Thanks for reading all the stuff.
I'm now having to take a long break from FR and wish you, and all fighters for our liberty, well and a Merry Christmas.
My apologies. I was referring to the most recent comments made by Gen Sanchez (following months of similar comments from made by military leaders). Am unable to find the quote. Will keep searching and link back if I do.
Here's a recent, typical exchange from 'the top':
Rumsfeld: Just so we get a fix on the number of U.S. troops, the number of U.S. troops is a portion of the total troops in the country, the other elements being coalition forces and Iraqis. And the number --
Q: (Off mike.) -- my question --
Rumsfeld: Shh-shh! The total number of troops, security forces in the country, is going up steadily. It has been for four months.
Second, I don't know that there are "many" members of Congress -- I hear a few. There's 535 members of the House and Senate. And I have not seen anything approximating a large number of them doing what you've said they're doing.
Senator McCain is a senior member of the Armed Services Committee and has a distinguished military record. And needless to say, when he makes recommendations, people think about them and consider them and discuss them. We had discussions this morning on that very subject. (Aside.) Just a minute. We talked to General Sanchez, and he and General Abizaid have been meeting with all of the commanders. And I do not -- I have not been told of a single military commander in CENTCOM, in Iraq, who is recommending additional U.S. military forces; not one.
Now if General Sanchez and General Abizaid came to General Myers and said, "We believe we need additional U.S. forces," and General Myers came to me, we would go to the president and we would recommend additional U.S. forces. No one has recommended that. And there are a lot of good reasons why they don't. They believe that it is important to have Iraqis take increasing responsibility. The Iraqis admittedly don't have the training our forces do. They tend not to have the equipment our forces do. They tend not to have the experience our forces do.
On the other hand, they do speak the language, they do live in the neighborhood, they do have situational awareness, which is different from someone who's in from another country. And the progress that's been made with joint patrols has been impressive.
Myers: The only thing I would add is that as you think about the security situation in this very complex environment, that it -- as the secretary said earlier, that numbers do not equate to capabilities.
For instance, the Stryker Brigade that is on its way, as we speak, to Iraq will be a very effective unit because of the way it's structured. It's a very modern structure that the Army has devised for that brigade and the ones that follow it, up to six, I think, eventually, perhaps, if the secretary approves all those. And that's going to help.
And the way we're structuring these forces that are going in is different than the way we structured the forces that are in there now. For instance, we're going to have a lot more infantry. Even though we'll have armored divisions going in, they're not going to go in with all their armor, because that's not what the need is right now. So their capabilities will not equate the capabilities -- in fact, we think they'll be superior. And that's part of the answer.
The other part of the answer is that you just can't carve out the security piece and say more forces are going to help -- in my view, more forces are going to help us with the problem of making progress in Iraq like we want to make. There are several other things that have to come along simultaneously. The governance piece has to come along very well. The economy, the infrastructure and, probably just as importantly, how you communicate where we're headed to the Iraqi people, to the region, to the world -- those are all pieces of it. And so it doesn't come down to -- it's just impossible to boil it down to numbers. ~ http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20031106-secdef0862.html
Thanks for the lessons, First_Salute.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.