Posted on 03/12/2006 7:36:24 PM PST by gleeaikin
"When you treat a "war" like a peace keeping mission or police action and you constantly change the soldiers on the ground rules of engagement, and dont let them defend themselves against clear threats stemming from mosques and foreign fighters shooting and running back over the border with syria you have a clear problem. There is a reason why we haven't won a real "war" since ww2."
The guys I know who in the sandbox now are not reporting this sort of thing to me. Maybe your news is old?
I disagree, because they wont stem the flow of foreign fighters via the damascus network. Syria has training camps, we see them and know they are there. They are transporting thousands of algerians, saudis and other terrorist through Syria and WE are not doing shit about it.
If you don't secure your borders you are not a nation. We don't get that here in America, and the Iraqis and the Coalition forces dont understand this. We have moved more troops to the western region but too few are there. Ramadi is a rats nest and should have been nuked. So you kill a lot of innocence, but think of all the terrorist that are camped out and being harbored by the sunnis. There is a vast network in the Anbar province we can't break up.
Thanks for the excellent insights.
I'm a bitter veteran though, but uhm seriously if the border with Syria is never secured there won't be peace.
Much of the Syria boarder is now the responsibility of the IA. That is the part that the Marines are not defending. There are a number of layers of defense on the Syria boarder, as you are probably awaire (it is in the public domain and not classified).
You are correct we are not attacking the Syrian camps, but I don't know if we are prepared to tackle a war with Syria right now, so border protection is the option that is open.
I wouldn't call that not doing anything....
I read somewhere recently, that one of the things the Iraqis are doing, with our help is secure the border with Syria and capture the foreign fighters coming through.
Of course anyone should question anything they think questionable. But when people make comments straight out of the mainstream media playbook, that’s what I find highly questionable. (Remember, the mainstream media has permanently ruined its own credibility with forged documents and the reckless use of “anonymous sources,” as well as extreme bias in general.)
From this post, here are some questionable quotes:
“why don't the children of these politicians join the Army”
“we have yet to define the conditions for victory”
“we have yet to define the conditions for victory”
“a nice tax increase”
These clichés are identical to something Soros, Hillary or any other extremist leftist would say.
“Armies kill people and break things, and that is not a reality that the American people are comfortable with”
The logic here is that Americans won’t fight to defend themselves, which as an assertion in itself is a bizarre fabrication.
“The problem is that the strategic vision and the tactical reality on the ground do not mesh”
“It seems like everyone seems to know how to run the war better than the people who do this for a living”
This guy is a soldier, not a commander. He doesn’t run the war, yet he’s making comments about the strategic vision? His comments are the exact opposite of “those who do this for a living” such as General Pace who stated things are going very, very well in Iraq.
Correct... Zarqawi's network stems from Bosnia/Kosovo, Turkey, Lebenon, Jordan and Syria to Iraq... he has a straight pipeline that needs to be stopped some where.
I'm not saying they don't believe in what they are fighting for...but you are exactly right about them seeing politicians as obstacles.
My understanding is that the Marines and IA are working it.
Yep, as my son calls them, "old men with grey hair, arguing all day long."
I will be communicating with my son regularly. It usually happens on weekends. I will ask him when he thinks the locals in Afg. will be able to take care of themselves. I will also ask what we (US military) can do to support.
I am wondering if you are active military and where you are located. You can private reply if you don't want that info out there. I know that in GWI, when his unit had their new tanks, I had to run to Home Depot and buy several quarts of brown and beige paint to send him because they needed to camoflage their tanks. How is that for "military" support!!
Kind of like this wars vehicle armor, and vests situation.
How long since you've been over there. In the past few weeks, the Iraqi Sunni tribes have turned on AQ and the Desert Protectors (tribesmen) have been doing a pretty effective job in stopping the flow.
Here is a news article about it. Not sure how effective they are though. I just don't have the visibility.
http://www.newsone.ca/westfallweeklynews/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=155476
Terror camps in Syria sending terrorists into Iraq.
We may not be doing anything about it, but it sound as though the Iraquis/Sunnis finally are. See recent FR posts "Some Sunni Arabs Turning Against AlQaeda in Iraq" and "Sunni Insurgents 'Have Al-Zarqawi running for cover'."
Good post, thanks.
They're being more and more effective. They don't bother turning these guys over to us or the Iraqi forces, they just kill them.
There is no such thing as an "ex" Marine.
You reek, and I mean positively reek, of troll.
When do you think the locals will be in a position to take care of themselves? What can we (US military)do to support them until then?
The $64,000 question. Way to many people think WWII when they should be thinking Cold War.
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