Posted on 11/20/2005 4:11:00 PM PST by Flavius
If the Repulblican Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee wants to get a second opinion on how the war in Iraq is going, where does he turn? To the Pentagon, but not to the top brass this time. In an unusual closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill last week, Virginia's John Warner, joined by Democratic Senators Carl Levin of Michigan and Mark Dayton of Minnesota, sat across the table from 10 military officers chosen for their experience on the battlefield rather than in the political arena. Warner rounded up the battalion commanders to get at what the military calls "ground truth"--the unvarnished story of what's going on in Iraq.
"We wanted the view from men who had been on the tip of the spear, and we got it," said John Ullyot, a Warner spokesman who declined to comment on what was said at the meeting but confirmed that some Capitol Hill staff members were also present. According to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, the Army and Marine officers were blunt. In contrast to the Pentagon's stock answer that there are enough troops on the ground in Iraq, the commanders said that they not only needed more manpower but also had repeatedly asked for it. Indeed, military sources told TIME that as recently as August 2005, a senior military official requested more troops but got turned down flat.
There are about 160,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq, a number U.S. commanders in the region plan to maintain at least through the Iraqi national assembly elections on Dec. 15. But the battalion commanders, according to sources close to last week's meeting, said that because there are not enough troops, they have to "leapfrog" around Iraq to keep insurgents from returning to towns that have been cleared out. The officers also stressed that the lack of manpower--rather than of protective armor or signal jammers--posed one of the biggest obstacles in dealing with roadside bombs, which have caused the majority of U.S. casualties in Iraq. The commanders, according to the meeting sources, said there are simply "never enough" explosives experts on the ground. So far, no officer has been willing to go on record to complain about the need for more troops. But there is one positive sign: the Army recently decided to double the number of explosives experts to 2,500 over the next few years. From the Nov. 28, 2005 issue of TIME magazine
This could put the libs in a bind. Are they going to say the troops are the problem or not having enough troops are the problem?
General Mark Dayton will staighten this miss up.
more of Times "sources close to" stories.
One thing I have always noted, by reading, military commanders never feel they have enough troops.
What! How dare they contradict the pentatgon civilian leadership!! These traitors are all rats and must be from france and somehow made into the military!!!
Saw this on Drudge earlier today.
Garbage!
The Powell Doctrine.
Is it? I don't know. My comment is merely based upon what I have read over the years.
It will confuse them... They can't say "Send more troops" when they have already said "Controlled Withdrawl within 6 months".
What am I missing here?
"It will confuse them... They can't say "Send more troops" when they have already said "Controlled Withdrawl within 6 months"."
Here's how you spin it if you're a Dem...
"We will begin an immediate withdrawl as soon as we possibly can... not one minute later."
Of course, no one anywhere plans to stay in Iraq if there is a viable option to leave, but hey, it sounds great....
Have you seen this?
Pinging YUT! who says he's in Iraq and can provide us all with the "real truth,- damned all politicians."
I don't think I've ever heard of any military officer saying that he had enough of anything. I don't think the word "enough" is in the military lexicon.
Holy Crap! You want to hear the truth about Iraq? Ask between the ranks of LtCol and Capt, E5 - E8.
You all hear from the mouths of the Bn Commanders who are leading this fight and because it doesn't agree with what some ahole politician has been saying you get your panties in a bind. These are the ones leading the fight, not hanging around on some base eating effin pizza.
Guess what? They want to win!!!
Do you? You all sound more intrested in propping up some political party.
McClellan on the Peninsula had over 120,000 troops Magruder had about 13,000. McClellan sat down a whined for more troops.
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