[Blue State Insurgent]

How would you have prosecuted the war differently if you were the decision maker?

[douginthearmy]

From the onset of the war I would have gone to the Special Operations Command and said, once we destroy their infrastructure, what is our next move. SOCOM were the only ones who had a clue as to what to expect and how to operate in the post invasion stage.

I, like pretty much everyone on FR, would have predicted the problems our own media would cause and would have set up a special missions unit whose sole purpose was controlling the information coming out of Iraq by CNN and other insurgent support groups. I would have extended the ass kicking phase further before beginning the winning hearts and minds stage. In other words, AlSadr should have been hung alongside Saddam.

I sometimes joke with the guys that we should wear flourescent orange storm trooper uniforms. Its a bit silly, but there is an underlying truth. All Iraqis should see us and KNOW we are there and KNOW what the consequences are for attacking us. The retribution for attacks against US troops should have been public and extreme. I'm not saying we should have acted like animals, that is not American. But we had a formula for success with both Japan and Germany both of which were death cults.

There's no way that I will ever believe that we could destroy and reform the two industrial giants Japan and Germany but we cant do it in Iraq.

[douginthearmy]

I forgot a few more things, but one important thing. I would have dropped all garrison promotion rules. Like in WWII, I would have been agressive in promoting effective combat leaders and let the garrison leaders retire gracefully or move into support commands.