[oceanview]

Cols Hunt and Cowan on OReilly tonight outlining some specific changes they would make, including:

- fire some generals
- more special forces
- less tank groups in civilian areas
- less convoy operations for US troops
- move some heavy mechanized units into border areas of the country. draw a line in the sand, tell iran and syria that targets on their side of the border will be hit if terrorists flow over the borders
- money from the iraqi government to outfit their own forces is pitiful, they do not have proper equipment. this lines up with a FR thread I saw last week, some freeper with a friend in Iraq posting for Nissan parts for trucks that iraqi forces use (did anyone else catch that?)

have at it fellows....

[jveritas]

Hunt and Cowens are two pessimistic arm chair "colonels". If they were that smart they would have reached higher ranks.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

These tactical ideas sure make sense to me. Hunt wanted a " Killer General" in there..preferably a Marine!

[bnelson44]

This is pretty obvious stuff

[Americanexpat]

I agree with most of what you are saying.

However, I don't see less convoy duty. These are convoys of food, water, spare parts and equipment needed by our troops to fight the war, No convoys and the supply line gets cut, then our people are in deep trouble.

Also agree the tanks should be out along the border. Hopefully we can turn the cities over to the Iraqi forces. They know the people and the neighborhoods.

But, I want to make it clear I am not criticizing the troops, they do a magnificent job no matter where they work.

[Marine_Uncle]

Thanks for ping. I wonder if the colonel(s) are familiar with actual ground conditions in Iraq. And are at all familiar with the geographies and road grid south of the whole Syrian border from Jordan to the Ephrates river then to the Syrian/Turkish/Iraqi border. Are they tank commanders? Have they been to Iraq. Have they with success commanded a BN in Iraq? Do they really hate the military that much to recommend that the excellant generals now in Iraq should be fired?
Why did they not add the magic for public consumption word quagmire? As for the equping of the new Iraqi Army. It is in transition. Why are things like the Abram tanks we are giving them (will be over a 1000), the current Russian T72 and other reworked tanks mentioned, the convoy trucks they are receiving from us, the three C130 cargo transport and choppers we gave them, and trained air crews and maintenance crews on. I assume since they recommended to fire some generals neither is currently employed by the DoD. And that sort of should sum things up.
I would highly recommend they go to FOB Korean Village in the remote NW Al Anbar province and tell Marines in my nephews they no longer need those long and almost continues 180 miles plus each convoys to bring them in food, supplies and mail. I wonder how many clean holes would be drilled into their heads within lets say 1 minute time frame.
As for the tanks at the borders. Their idiots at best IMHO.
Their statement on the border solution is simply ignorant at best. Do they think some goon sneaking in a car over the border in a car driven by a legitimate Iraqi citizen with no guns onboard is going to be effected by some Abram tank sitting in the middle of nowhere? Most of the Syrian/Iraqi border areas are simply vast desert wastelands, nothing there other then wadi and un-even terrain, undulating hills with some small mountain ranges on various axis.
Thats my response for what it is worth.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

- less convoy operations for US troops

Well freaking DUH! Fewer ducks for target practice.

[FreedomPoster]

>>some freeper with a friend in Iraq posting for Nissan parts for trucks that iraqi forces use (did anyone else catch that?)

I did catch that, but I remember it being more of an issue of "where do I get parts for this beastie", rather than "I need help paying for them". Money wasn't the issue. Well, other than this wouldn't be a problem if they had all brand-new, shiney stuff.