[USNBandit]

makeshift sniper's roost above the center's theater.

By that, they mean minaret?

[CommandoFrank]

first sweep a town, then immediately garrison it and begin reconstruction

Hey, what a novel new concept... Run'em out of town and then stay! Wow, amazing...

[91B]

OK-there's a lot that is wrong with this approach and I doubt if it will work for much longer than a month. Just for instance, what happens when someone needs to go on sick call? Now, the medic on scene will be able to deal with sniffles and scrapes, but he can't carry a pharmacy in his aid bag. So for anything more serious than anything that can be treated over the counter, the troop is going to have to go back to the aid station, which means another convoy, which means another opportunity to get hit by an IED.

Now factor in resupply of the unit in the field (one way or another that's another convoy) and the fact that whatever unit you put in place at the remote location is not available for FOB security or regular patrols in force and I really have to wonder what the point is. We don't have the forces to put a platoon in every village (which is at least what it would take) and that's probably not what we want to do now anyway given that Haji doesn't attack FOBs (except for mortars and rockets) because we would absolutely cream him due to having overwhelming forces in place. Doing something different is not the same thing as doing what is best.

[CharlesWayneCT]

What's interesting is that, if you deconstruct Murtha's plan, it would be just like the old strategy they denounce in this piece.

Murtha wants us to pull out of the entire country, come in when we are needed, beat up the insurgents, and then leave again.

That is exactly what this article says was the problem, and now we are doing it "right" by fighting and then staying.

No mention here that by staying we are encouraging insurgents to come back. Instead, the article suggests that the insurgents come to where we are NOT.