Too bad we're not fighting the war as if it was the most important war since WWII. Since WWII we have forgotten how to fight a war and we no longer fight towards total victory but some sort of half-assed victory. And that doesn't work. We need a LOT more George S. Patton strategy in Iraq (and against jihadists everywhere) and a lot less George W. Bush stategery.
Too bad we're not fighting the war as if it was the most important war since WWII. Since WWII we have forgotten how to fight a war and we no longer fight towards total victory but some sort of half-assed victory. And that doesn't work. We need a LOT more George S. Patton strategy in Iraq (and against jihadists everywhere) and a lot less George W. Bush stategery.
'Surge' plan put at risk by politics, general says
The Washington Times
14 January 2007
The military architect of the Iraq troop "surge" plan is criticizing the Bush administration, claiming the Pentagon is watering down the proposal for political reasons."You cannot try and do this piecemeal. We have to implement the whole package," retired Gen. John M. Keane told the Sunday Telegraph. The former Army vice chief of staff co-authored the "Choosing Victory" strategy paper, the main points of which were adopted by President Bush for his Iraq war plan.
Gen. Keane expressed his alarm after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates testified on Capitol Hill that the troop buildup was expected to last "a matter of months" -- rather than the 18 months proposed by Gen. Keane.
Mr. Gates also said the full deployment of 21,500 additional troops, announced by Mr. Bush last week, might not be implemented. He suggested that only two or three of the five brigades proposed for Baghdad could be deployed initially, while the rest are held in reserve.
"That makes no military sense, although it might seem to make political sense," Gen. Keane said. President Bush has been criticized in the past for not listening to the advice of his top generals.
"We need all five brigades in Baghdad as soon as possible. It will take three to four months to clear neighborhoods of death squads and insurgents, and at least the rest of the year to establish proper security for the population," Gen. Keane said. "If you only wanted to stage a clearance operation, you could do that in a few months. But if we left then, the militia would just return as they have in the past."