BACK TO BAGHDAD [Ralph Peters: Let them have a civil war]

The New York Post ^ | July 27, 2006 | Ralph Peters

[mcshot]

I heartedly concur.

[hosepipe]

The problem is Iraq is being made a democracy when Iraq should become a republic(Sunni,Shiite,Kurd States).. Sharia Law is democracy, you know, MoB Rule..

Who is the genius that decided Iraq should be a democracy?.. Dick Turban?... Teddy Kennedy?.. Cynthia McKinney?...

[Aquinasfan]

The importance of establishing a democracy in a Mohammedan country is that democracy itself is contrary to Mohammedanism. Mohammedanism prescribes rule by a caliph.

This establishes the precedent of the the will of the population overriding the Mohammedan mandate of a Mohammedan theocracy. It's a tiny opening, but an important one.

[Reagan Man]

IIRC, Rush Limbaugh just interviewed Ralph Peters for a future issues of the Limbaugh Letter. I'm sure it will be interesting, informative and instructive. Ralph Peters is a well respected military expert and is offering an opinion based on extensive military expertise. His points are well taken.

You, on the other hand, are a raving maniac. Your opinion about the military affairs is worthless as tits on a bull.

[elhombrelibre]

He's been gloomy too lately about the IDF.

[NorCalRepub]

Ralph is a strong supporter....but he calls them as he sees them..always has...I don't know why some FReerpers (not you) think someone is not a supporter if they think things are going bad....he has great credentials....so don't confuse support for pragmatism

[RexBeach]

Thanks for you note.

I know little about Mr. Peters, but he seems to write quite authoritatively about the war. I will pay more attention to him in the future.

[NorCalRepub]

...LOL....I have to agree with you....I had a similar argument with MNJohnnie the other day....I think he at least keeps up on the events but his commentary and synopsis on most of this stuff is way off base...plus he can't form a debate without name calling and hurling invective around.....haha....I read your post and I think I even used the same "useless as tits on a bull" analogy with him too......he is clueless..........

[NorCalRepub]

You bet....other posters on this thread say the same thing. He used to be on FOX alot more but lately has been on.. maybe cause he has been overseas alot....he can be wrong like anyone else...but unlike some whackos here, like MNJohnnie, he is not some kind of "whoring" whacko..haha, thanks for your response

[Reagan Man]

There have been a fair amount of "clueless", know-nothing wonders who've joined FR in recent years. Stating the obvious, as it comes from the mouth of Rush Limbaugh, and defending Bush policy 100% of the time, doesn't indicate free independent thinking. Political conservtism goes beyond parroting talking head rhetoric.

[NorCalRepub]

....lol....I totally agree......seems like in the past year if you had one independent thought that went against the extreme here....you are chastised.....which just shows the ignorance and intolerance of even some FReepers akin to Daily Kossacs......

[DHerion]

If you look through history, overthrows of dictators or tossing out colonial powers usually brings about some civil war. Our own history is proof of that. The Colonies had all kinds of differences, one of them major (slavery). We papered over those differences to drive out the Brits but afterwards those differences had to be dealt with. In our case we engaged in a Civil war that was 20x bloodier than our revolutionary war.

Algeria went through the same thing after the French pulled out. I do not want to say this is right or necessary but it was inevitable. It could go on for 6 months or 6 years. But if Peters thinks the Coalition will solve it I think he's off base. The situation in Baghdad has to be dealt with by the Iraqis themselves. Maliki has to be the one to be ruthless now, almost Saddam like, temporarily, mainly against the Shiite militias. Arrest Sadr and the other leaders and the mobs will be easier to deal with. Give out orders to shoot to kill any non soldier/cop or coalition soldier walking around with a weapon inside Baghdad.

[CGVet58]

In the Civil War, Sherman estimated that the only way to wipe the scourge of seccession was to kill about 300,000 of those non-fighting landowners that drove the South to ruin. We did not do this; one of the results was the Jim Crow south and deferrment of true Civil Rights progress until a century later.

In WWII we demanded unconditional surrender from our enemies, and bludgeoned them into it and were prepared to utterly destroy them if they had continued fighting. Japan and Germany are now our allies.

Korea, we let the vermin off the hook and we all know the current status there.

The lessons are before us, before our very noses... when an enemy professes to be more willing to die for his cause than we are for ours, there is only one way to defeat him - destroy him completely. Wipe him out, no quarter. Instead, we have bowed to the constant bombardment of negativity, bias, insults and in some cases, treachery from the left, so much so that it can be truthfully said that - despite a Republican administration/Senate/House - the left has been dictating how the war is or has not being/been fought.

Wouldn't it be ironic if - as in Israel where the leftist Ohlmert now prosecutes a war with some degree of vigor - we wind up with a dhimmi administration which will then be "blessed" by the media/talking heads elites, and proceed to out-Truman Truman in their prosecution of the WOT?

[cowtowney]

Ralph Peters is not pro-democrat just because he criticizes the war effort. Jeesh. Some of you posters need to be a little more objective and read his stuff.

The guy is military historian and is critical of wars that are fought on the premise that you can bomb them to win or out manuever them, etc. Rumsfeld is a big believer in this.

Peters thinks you should use attrition. Kill the enemy. Big on ground troops. You don't win with just attrition, just like you don't win with just maneuvering and strategic bombing. You need it all, but you need to kill the enemy, not just drop bombs on his special sites.

He is ruthless and we should follow what he is saying. For those who think the Iraq war is going swimmingly, I think you are wrong. We would do better to follow his advice.

He doesn't care whether you are democrat or republican. He just is explaining how to win.

[tessalu]

There is no such a thing as a "gentle war". We have been trying to fight a war that pleases the enemy. Just look at us!

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

"There is no such a thing as a "gentle war". We have been trying to fight a war that pleases the enemy. Just look at us!"

You are absolutely right!

[PISANO]

HE [Peters] like all of us who have served since WWII are sick and tired of fighting minimalist wars that cowtow to the DBM and it's anti-american machinations concerning the REALITIES of said WAR.

My tag line echoes my strong belief in the words of GW BUSH and while I still believe those words as applied to our MILITARY, I do NOT believe the citizens of our nation do and our President needs to remember his inner strength of purpose when he said those words.

[Gritty]

We helped make this mess. Instead of relentlessly destroying terrorists and insurgents, we tried to wage war gently to please the media.

BTTT

[dfwgator]

If Iraq breaks up into three separate countries... Kurdistan will remain friendly and pro-American.

Yeah, but that will piss off the Turks so it will never happen.