[gandalftb]

Our strategic error in winning the peace was to leave units like the 82nd Airborne all over Iraq to do a job they are not trained or equipped to do. We let Falluja/Al-Anbar province collect and distribute arms until the 1st MarDiv could rebuild and come back as 1MEF to do the heavy lifting. The 82nd Airborne brass decided to go to garrison and minimize casualties, so things got out of hand. The only certainty of war is confusion.

[railsplitter]

the artificial deadline is driving the installation of a civilian authority -prematurely-

the war posture morphed into policing

political correctness has reigned in the military in an attempt to minimize civilian casualties, resulting in arguably, more military deaths, or a sustainment of military deaths

unleash hell ought to be standing orders

[elfman2]

"Our strategic error in winning the peace… "

We never had peace. We never finished the war.

We thought that we didn’t need a WWII like investment and thought that we could compromise our way through, much like Vietnam.