Posted on 07/21/2005 8:39:10 PM PDT by jmc1969
Might also be that Iraq is not the world. Got to be ready for other needs.
Kosovo was successful? What a crock.
I think Rand waited two years too long to figure that out. All these coulda woulda shoulda's remind me of the old saying.... "If the Queen had balls, she'd be King"
So, half a million troops for the two countries. Thanks, Rand. Apparently all you need to work at a "think" tank is the abilitiy to do straight line extrapolations. They probably think gasoline will be $6 next year and the average temperature next summer in the U.S. will be 137 degrees F.
My hindsight is 20/20, too!
Not this §µ!† again.
I agree. Sounds like something 9 out of 10 competent professionals would conclude 2 years later. Good to see this world class think tank come onboard.
I remember seeing a Marine Colonel being interviewed atop his vehicle about the day Baghdad fell smiling and telling a reporter that the looting taking place all around them at the moment was a good thing, a justified response to the tyranny by "the people". I knew in a heart beat that was a mistake. It took several more days for orders to change and our forces to start acting as police.
Oh well, something to get right if we ever do this again...
Well, one could achieve the Rand ratio (1:100) in either of two ways: increase the number of the troops or decrease the population.
If math serves correctly, that's one soldier for every 100 inhabitants? Sounds overboard. We'd be accused of being too repressive, wouldn't we?
You and I and everyone else here know this is a crock. This UPI reporter is making Clinton appear larger than life, as Clinton is still searching out his legacy. If Kosovo is so successful, I cannot figure out why we're still there tonight.
Maybe the Rand Corporation could fight all the wars on paper. Yeah, that's the ticket.
If your right, do we send in more troops now? Or stick it out with what we have and let everything keep going along as it is.
Having and maitaining a larger force would definitely make us look like an army of occupation rather than an army of liberation. This would have created the need for even more troops and an ever increasing escalation. Given the historical low low low level of casualties in this conflict I think our generals should be writing the books rather than Rand Corp.
how many wars has rand fought and won?
Probably no more troops. But we’ve never just, “let everything keep going along as it is”. We and the insurgents are constantly and radically changing tactics and adjusting to each others changes. The side that can adjust the fastest, best and longest wins.
I think the author’s speaking to a window in which the enemy had a cover of chaos to regroup, like a cancer that had been partially cut out and not immediately followed up with chemo.
The cancer has now spread. The Iraqis are stuck with what the disease left them and are going to have to fight it to some kind of acceptable resolution themselves with our help. The insurgency is too deeply integrated in their body now for us operate and to carve it out externally with more troops.
LOL! I'll take the word of the military over bean counters on this question.
Leftist claptrap. The government should pull all it's funding fron the Rand corporation, it's clearly a source for leftwing propaganda. Hey Rand, if you think you have a better idea, run for president. Until then, STFU.
Good point. If anything's a quagmire, it's Kosovo, not Iraq, where things bet better every day. Thanks Clinton.
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