Posted on 08/13/2006 10:40:35 AM PDT by Dubya
AP) FALLUJAH, Iraq The top U.S. general dropped into this volatile city Sunday to hear what was on the minds of Marines doing battle daily with a resilient and deadly insurgency. Some of what he heard sounded like a sign of creeping doubt — not about the Marines' mission but about the wider purpose it is supposed to be serving as the U.S. war death count tops 2,600.
On his first visit to Fallujah as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace stood before 1,300 troops — mostly Marines — and assured them that the American public supports them. And he predicted that Americans would continue to support the war.
"I think sometimes when you are out here at the tip of the spear, you wonder what's going on back in the United States and do you all still have the support of your fellow citizens," Pace said. "The answer is, yes, you do."
Public support for the troops doesn't extend to the Iraq war itself, however. More than half, 58 percent, said in a Newsweek poll out this weekend that the United States is losing ground in Iraq and opposition to the war has been growing.
During his meeting with the troops, the general also took questions.
How much more time, one Marine asked, should the Iraqi government be given to achieve the political unity necessary to stabilize the country?
"I guess they have as long as it takes," Pace replied, quickly adding, "Which is not forever."
Pace argued that setting a deadline by which the United States would withdraw its support would risk pushing the Iraqis into political decisions that are unviable. On the other hand, he said, "You do not want to leave it open ended."
Another Marine wanted to know if U.S. troops would stay in Iraq in the event of an all-out civil war. Pace repeated what he told a Senate committee last week: a civil war is possible, but not expected. He did not say what the United States would do if it actually happened.
Another asked what the United States would do if the Iraqi government did not support extending the U.N. resolution that authorizes the presence of American and other foreign troops in Iraq. Pace said the Iraqis already have said they favor extending the U.S. mandate, which expires in December.
One Marine wound up his question about the pace of U.S. troop deployments to Iraq by asking, "Is the war coming to an end?"
Pace didn't answer directly. He said Pentagon officials and military leaders are trying to keep enough troops in Iraq to achieve the mission of training Iraqi troops to take over the security mission, while avoiding having so many that it creates an Iraqi dependency.
There are now about 133,00 U.S. troops in Iraq.
At each stop on Pace's two-day visit to Iraq, which included Baghdad and Mosul as well as Fallujah, he thanked troops for their service and assured them that the American public still supports them.
Pace did not explicitly mention the political debate in Washington over when to withdraw from Iraq, but the senior commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq, Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, said in an interview Sunday that he is concerned about the effects of that debate.
Asked about the tenor of some of the questions put to Pace by Marines who seemed to harbor doubts about the long-term viability of the U.S. military mission, Zilmer said he is confident that virtually every Marine here is satisfied that their work is noble and just.
"But they are not immune to the discussions they see in public communications," Zilmer said. "Like all of us, they want to be assured that what we're doing is the right thing for the nation. Watching the Iraqi national government develop here has not been easy."
Zilmer noted the calls by some in Congress for a U.S. troop withdrawal to begin this year.
"That plays back here," he said. "People hear that. It does create the question: Is there the national commitment behind what we're doing over here?"
Kinda like Bush's approval ratings: When he's in decline, you'll see 20 stories a day touting it, but when his numbers are going up, you won't see anything about them for 20 days.
BTW, you write about it as though you've been in Iraq recently. If so, keep your head down, buddy, and God speed! We're all behind you 110 percent, are praying frequently for you and along with most Americans, don't believe a thing we see in the MSM!
Sure looks like it to me.
New order given out last week states that they cannot pursue any Iraqis that runs away, unless they are shooting at our troops......once he throws down his weapon and runs he is now an unarmed civilian.
That is crazy and demoralizing.
At last count we were spending one billion American dollars a week on bringing democracy to Iraqi.
This is not the reason we went into Iraqi in the first place.
The moral of our troops in many places is beginning to sag...........and so is mine!
It seems to have placed the cart before the horse in Iraq because it failed to realize that the US had to establish a monopoly on the use of force first, before establishing a new Iraqi government.
I don't think that meant sending 500K troops to Iraq because more troops don't imply that it's easier to find more bad guys.
The problem was and has been the PC-belief induced failure to apply ruthless COIN (and conventional) ops against the Sunni insurgents and al Sadr's Shiite militias.
Grab insurgent, introduce to Mr. Field Telephone, grab his buddies, and (when you've worked way as far up that cell as you can), place against wall and shoot. Rinse and repeat as necessary.
Instead we had the same failed 'catch and release' policies we use here against illegal aliens and criminals applied against utterly ruthless killers in Iraq.
And the Bush admin seems to think it has an infinitude of time to work in Iraq and can't explain how it thinks it's going to achieve it's goals to the American people, primarily because I think they don't know how they are going to achieve them. Maybe the Iraqi Army is not yet up too securing Baghdad. Well, tough noogies, it has to be done anyway, and we've now frittered away another 6 months doing nothing effective.
It is one of the reasons, I remember CinC saying, "the Iraqi people are capable of taking care of themselves," though it may take a while since its been 50 years since any sembelance of freedom has been there.
The moral of our troops in many places is beginning to sag...........and so is mine!
Then you're buying into the LameStream Media's version of events. Do you remember Bush at the military base in WV a couple months back? (I can't remember the name of it.) The video was posted here...he got a standing ovation or two when the military wife stood up and told him what she sees on TV is very different from what her husband tells her is happening in Iraq. From what she said, the bad stuff is overemphasized and most good news is ignored.
I agree the Iraqi army has to start taking the bull by the horns, though. Time for them to start whacking more bad guys, and I think they are doing that, slowly but surely.
I have read email from some of the troops at the front.
They have long hours of duty, come home bone tired, many with out proper air conditioning. One small unit in a room with six or seven guys. Most of the time their food is canned rations.
When their tour is over many times they get extended.
I voted for Bush two times, and support the war........but now I am weary and tired and want our troops home.
I suggest you read McCullough's book "1776", or any other history of warfare. If we gave up when some or most of the troops morale was low, we'd still be subjects of the Queen, or speaking French or German.
Victory is the only option, and it isn't done by backing out.
Don't get me wrong, I want the troops home too. I don't think they should come home just for the sake of coming home, though. Or else you'll see "Red Dawn" in our streets, replacing the Soviets with Islamofacists.
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