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I made no remark about "liberation,"

that decision was made long ago.

Now the question is, how can the mission be achieved at the least cost in American and Iraqi blood and treasure.

And of course, what is the mission these days?

If it is to take revenge on the people of Iraq for every terrorist act anywhere in the world as some freepers' comments seem to indicate, then celebrating every bombing mission in a residential area or every violation of the Geneva Conventions is fine and dandy.

But is "revenge" the mission?

I thought "liberation" and 'democratization" were the two goals of the war--at least the two goals left once it became clear that there was no wmd, no al queda alliance, and no involvement with 9/11.

If the mission really is to make a new state that follows US traditions when it comes to goverment, then it seems pretty clear to me that the bloodthirsty sorts of options/reprisals favored by some freepers, while they may provide some sort of macho testosterone boost, will actually be counterproductive to the achievement of our strategic goals.

I think that the White House is meddling in the military operations in Iraq to a degree not seen since Vietnam. I thought we learned that lesson already.

I take General Conway's statements very seriously because it seems to me that the Marines are practically the only military members that tell it straight without regard to politics.

Conway said that it made no sense to hammer fallujah on the basis of the deaths of 4 "contractors." He pointed out that several GIs were killed around that same time and no attack was ordered to avenge their deaths--and when exactly did civilian contractors become more important than members of our military?

The White House ordered an assault on the city when the commander in the field thought this was a foolish response that would ultimately harm the mission--which he believed was setting up a democracy in IRaq.

Conway was prepared to offer all sorts of reconstruction intitiatives and he had trained his Marines to do a better job with the locals than the Army had...

But that went out the window when the White House, irritated at the pictures on TV of the riots and mutilations of the contractors' bodies, let emotions control rather than logic and the dictates of the mission and ordered a full on assault on a city of several hundred thousand people.

And don't kid yourself, this was NOT a military man's decision made in theater, this is the sort of FUBAR policy that ONLY comes from politicians that have never served in combat or even the military.

So, Conway the good Marine says "Yes, Sir!" and unleashes the Devil Dogs on Fallujah. As expected, the Marines perform brilliantly and kick major ass and quickly come within a few days (hours???) of completing their mission--which was to take control of Fallujah.

Then, as the Marines are ready to achieve victory, Conway is told by the White House to RETREAT and turn the town over to the local hooligans.

This was a criminal policy decision in my opinion, replaying the stupidity of Vietnam and all of the political meddling in that conflict.

This was the worst of all possible worlds because the White House let emotions guide the decision to order the assualt, and then they let politics come into play and they wimped out and cancelled the operation when victory was at hand.

As Conway noted, when you order a Marine assault force to take a city, you better know what you are doing and what is going to happen when the Devil Dogs are unleashed.

So, they send in the Corps, they lose some Marines, they kill some civilians, they kill many of the enemy, and then they do not achieve victory because the White House got scared.

Now, everybody is pissed off, the Marines AND the locals. The US gets a propaganda black eye for the civilian deaths AND they don't take the town.

As was the case so often in Vietnam, the White House snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

Then the Marines are ordered to train the enemy in combat tactics, give them brand new AK-47s, AND put them in charge of Fallujah!!!
--Think about that for a moment...

Conway is right about the whole mess.

So, again, it doesn't matter whether or not one is in favor of the war or not, the US is there, now they need to decide what the mission is and figure out how to achieve victory.

If the mission is "revenge" and reprisal for acts of terrorism against Americans then fine, but don't send in the Devil Dogs and then pull them out when they have already lost Marines AND victory is at hand.

If the mission is "liberation," then you cannot send Marine assault forces into cities, drop 2000lb bombs in residential neighborhoods, and randomly fire .50 cal into markets everytime you are pissed off about something Zarqawi did...

It seems to me that you cannot do both things at once.

The only way to defeat an insurgency is to convince the locals that you are the good guys and will provide the best life for them.

But that is tough to do when the political leadership is more worried about the polls than what their military commanders are telling them and what sorts of strategies the mission dictates.

It is almost impossible if the politicians lose their nerve everytime some Marines start killing people and breaking things.

I think that EVERYONE needs to back off on the petty partisanship and political bullshit when it comes to the situation in Iraq.

The whole "kill 'em all" attitude is fine if you are in the field and trying to keep yourself and your buddies alive, but it has no place for policy makers in the rear--and when it is expressed by people not even in the service from the comforts of their computer terminals it rings even more hollow.

But this attitude has no place in the overall strategy for Iraq if the mission is to "liberate" and create a democracy.

In my view, it is long past the time when someone in the Administration needs to get shit canned. There have been so many things wrong and yet there seems to be no accountability whatsoever.

If you are an e-4 in the field and you rough up a thug in an effort to find out where the IEDs are you get court martialed, but if you are a senior administration official that orders up somthing like the Fallujah fiasco absolutely NOTHING happens to you.

This is bad for morale and really bad for the mission.

And I think it just reeks of Vietnam.