In light of what is happening in this Country as we speak, I can’t imagine what must be going through some of these brave men a women’s minds as they are putting their lives on the line.
bump
This wasn’t a bad report from a Perfumed Prince, but his summary especially part 8(c) still took shots at the people who planned the Iraq War.
8. SUMMARY:
a. The new Administration will have to think through their military options in the coming six months and devise a regional strategy for CENTCOM. General Petraeus will no doubt have a new concept to recommend for the rapidly deteriorating tactical situation in Afghanistan. The available US Army and Marine combat forces are insufficient to support continued robust presence in Iraq while also rapidly reinforcing our presence in the Hindu Kush with mountain infantry capable units.
b. The likely strategic outcome will be a more rapid forced drawdown than desirable in Iraq in order to enhance combat power for Afghanistan. It will be a tricky balance-— but in my judgment we will pull this off successfully. Iraq will stabilize with the rapidly increasing power of the Iraqi Security Forces -—while we reinforce the inadequate NATO combat power in Afghanistan.
c. It is hard to not be bitter about the misjudgments and denial of the DOD leadership during the first years of the war. It did not have to turn out this way with $750 billion of our treasure spent and 36,000 US killed and injured.
• If we had employed adequate ground combat power in Iraq during the initial intervention with the needed Military Police units, Civil Affairs, Engineers, Cavalry forces, and reconstruction assets.
• If we had not dismissed the Iraqi Army and thrown thousands of Saddam’s penniless officers out on the streets.
• If we had not dismissed the Baathist cadres in the government, academia, the Iraqi Armed Forces, and business — leaving the state rudderless.
• If we had put together an international coalition with a clear UN mandate before we intervened in Iraq.
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• If we had not lost the support of the American people with misjudgments about Iraqi WMD programs and Secretary Rumsfeld’s subsequent, egregious misstatements of facts about the reality of the growing insurgency war on the ground.
• If we had not issued illegal orders which resulted during the initial years in the systematic widespread mistreatment (and occasional torture) of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan detainees under our control. (This shameful situation has now been completely corrected.)
• If we had made leadership of our allies to gain their cooperation a primary objective of our diplomacy -—and allowed the Secretary of State to take the lead instead of the Pentagon.
• If we had understood the requirements of COIN operations earlier — and not arrested and then turned into insurgents the thousands of Iraqi young men who we dragooned into detention centers with inadequate control.
• If we had more effectively engaged Iraq’s neighbors-—in particular the Saudis, Kuwaitis, Jordanians, and the Turks.
• If we had seen the growing strain on our ground combat forces and expanded the US Army by 200,000 troops beginning in 2002.
d. As the Saudis note with great sadness-—we entered Iraq uninvited…but we must not leave the same way. It is essential for both US and Mid East security that we pull out of Iraq in a deliberate and responsible manner-— and leave a stable and functioning state. This is clearly within our capabilities.
I’m waiting for them to admit they were wrong.
Bottom line: Harry Reid declaring the war was lost was many times worse than “Mission Accomplished”!