Posted on 07/10/2019 5:25:36 PM PDT by PROCON
When (if) we pull out of Aghanistan, the Taliban will take back the place in short order because they are fanatics and the govt. army is less than competent.
Similar to when we pulled out of ‘Nam in ‘75 and the NVA rolled in and defeated that ARVNs.
In regards to the survey of veterans, the Pew Research Center...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pew_Research_Center
...started out as the Times Mirror Company. The Times Mirror Company owns these newspapers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Mirror_Company#Newspapers_owned_by_the_Times_Mirror_Company
[Quote]
Los Angeles Times
Newsday
Dallas Times
The Advocate
Greenwich Time
Hartford Courant
The Denver Post
The Morning Call
The Baltimore Sun
[Unquote]
Military Times, left wing junk aimed at the military. (Retired Army Officer)
When they see what happens to rebellions, whose going to choose to be the next missile target?
Seriously.
Thank you. I remember a former foot soldier under Patton that was bad-mouthing him: “Old Blood and Guts...his guts, our blood.” The grunts rarely see the big picture. We just need for the Big Picture guys to see the grunts.
Yes, I'm aware of the bias but I thought this was a great question to ask the many Military Vets who inhabit FR.
Yes, I'm aware of the bias but I thought this was a great question to ask the many Military Vets who inhabit FR.
Army’s Long-Awaited Iraq War Study Finds Iran Was the Only Winner
This VN combat Vet agrees.
“3 Block War” is sooo great..!
City block 1 - handing out care packages
City block 2 - Peace keeping
City block 3 - Flipping sexy hair around while shooting and doing ninjya moves like a toootal bad-as$..!!
Uh...actually...?
3 Block War is totally stupid, impossible, wasteful, and the paper fantasy of some liberal in the Pentagon with no life experience.
“HEY..! Shut-up cuz it’s ALL totally worth it as long as Afghani girls can WALK TO SCHOOL..!!!”
No, it’s not. It’s too expensive, even if ONE of our guys dies.
It’s too expensive even if one of our guys’ GF’s breaks up with him while he’s overseas.
It’s too expensive even if one of our guys gets bored playing video games over there, in that brown, wind-swept, modernity-hating sh*thole.
They like boy butt and dealing drugs: Let them STEW in their own worthless Afghani juices for all eternity.
We are fighting 7 wars simultaneously, leaving our borders undefended and destroying our military and our military people.
“....much of the conflict we are in is contrived...”
It might be or it might not. My war job for the military was an AFSC 3E9X1, ultimately 7. When I retired and went to work for the department of the Army I was training NBC on their dual support process and then was asked by DOD to do basically the same job but a little more for a little more money as I was involved with six of the eight training modes for NBC, military and civilian.
If you ask me if there was weapons in Iraq, let me send you to this web site:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/07/iraq.uranium/
And I could mention that this site is from CNN, who openly and vehemently denied any existence of NBC. And it was done less than four months before the presidential election in 2008. Wonder why?
So, now that we’ve established Iraq had the cake to process to weapons grade. In the 1980s, Saddam pursued an extensive biological weapons program and a nuclear weapons program which was started in 1959. How close were they? Several experts familiar with the inspections believe that Iraq could also probably have produced a workable device in as little as 6 to 24 months, had they decided to seize foreign-supplied highly enriched uraniom (HEU) from under safeguards and focus their efforts on a crash program to produce a device in the shortest possible amount of time. In April 1991, Iraq’s inventory of safeguarded HEU included fresh fuel used for the Soviet IRT 5000 reactor, including 68 fuel assemblies of 80% enrichment with a U235 content of 10.97 kilograms and 10 assemblies of 36% enrichment with a U235 content of 1.27 kilograms. In addition, there was a set of fresh fuel plates for the French Tammuz-2 reactor with an enrichment of 93% and a total U235 content of 372 grams. Other highly enriched material included 35.58 kilograms of U235 which had been irradiated but could not be readily used in weapons production since the fissile material would have been difficult to extract quickly from the irradiated fuel. But they were walking through the door.
As for chemical, in 1988 Iraq turned its chemical weapons on Iraqi Kurds in the north of the country. Some Kurdish guerrilla forces had joined the Iranian offensive. On 16 March 1988, Iraq dropped bombs containing mustard gas, Sarin and Tabun on the Kurdish city of Halabja. And according to the Iraq Survey Group Final Report, seven UN specialist missions had documented repeated use of chemicals in the war. According to Iraq itself, it consumed almost 19,500 chemical bombs, over 54,000 chemical artillery shells and 27,000 short-range chemical rockets between 1983 and 1988. Iraq declared it consumed about 1,800 tons of mustard gas, 140 tons of Tabun, and over 600 tons of Sarin. Almost two-thirds of the CW weapons were used in the last 18 months of the war.
As for Bio, between 1985 and April 1991, Iraq developed anthrax, botulinum toxin, and aflatoxin for biological warfare; 200 bombs and 25 ballistic missiles laden with biological agents were deployed by the time Operation Desert Storm occurred. There was more after the implementation of the operation.
It is possible there were outside special interest groups in the play. But the intent of going over and trying to get Saddam’s “stash” was also in the picture. It was real.
rwood
We still have troops in Germany? Does that mean WWII isn't over?
There is nothing wrong with having a base operation to combat terrorism and terrorist groups. That does serve a national security rationale.
I went to Basic Training with so many who are dead for no reason but to get a folded flag. I am sorry if that is harsh. I could expand with operations with better details. Some books are not bad.I was interviewed for one by a Philadelphia author..... I went to Army Basic and AIT Ft. Benning GA. in 1988 BTW. I know so many from past conflicts and went to the Vietnam Wall for the first time this year. My negativity is something some of my fellow veterans would kick my ass about. My nephew was born right after 9/11 as we started the WOT and now he is almost ready to fight the same war? He wants to go Ranger as did I.
My son enters his Scout Sniper 0317 indoc tomorrow. His brother is an 0331 machine gunner.
I will not be bitter if either is killed in action so long as they are not killed by a politician. If it’s a politician I’ll become a story posted to FR.
Who else in the region has these things?
Many authorities would agree (as would I), but that’s not the question I was asking. The USA seems unique in history as far as setting “get(ting) the hell out’ of an enemy nation as a goal; many others would regard it as strategically dangerous and would be correct in some instances and incorrect in others.
We haven’t prosecuted a War with the goal of “winning” (absolute destruction of the enemy) since WWII.
These younger heroes are beginning to learn the lesson many of us who went willing to Viet Nam. That is we are all just fodder for the MF’ing politicians.
I really thought President Trump would end the insanity of fighting for the status quo. But it seems just like other Republican Presidents he has surrounded himself with Neo-cons who are always willing to send America’s best into combat with no clear plan for Victory.
May they all rot in hell.
Welcome home brother and thanks for your service.
Granted our ROE’s were insane but they all stemmed from the fact that we were sent to fight a War to simply maintain the status quo. Even though we did prosecute some offensive engagements the overall mission was defensive. We never took the War to the enemy in the North.
While I am proud of my service I am not proud of being used to fight a war without Victory as it’s objective.
I have great anger towards our politicians but in our system they are elected by the people.
I normally don’t post anything to those with whom I disagree. So I won’t but please explain to us how we will achieve military “victory” over “Terror”.
“War on Terror”.
Websters defines terror as a state of intense fear. A feeling. How does the military prosecute a war against the feeling of fear? What is the end goal? How can you quell the feeling of “terror” by using the Military without the goal the complete Annihilation of the enemy?
Sorry FRiend but seems you have bought into the scheme of having to fight a 30 year war without total victory, hook, line, and sinker.
Of course you will have the last word.
We should have simply smoked the A-hole Taliban, and then got out. Period. And if they reared their head again, you squish them again, and get out.
Too much of our mens lives, our money, and our time has gone into this armpit of the world.
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