Posted on 12/22/2004 6:38:54 AM PST by SLB
Worth repeating and about as well said as I've seen.
You are quite that our troops should not be put into unecessary danger. But read the following quotes:
On July 5, columnist and blogger David Warren wrote that instead of exemplifying U.S. mismanagement, Iraq is, like flypaper, a carefully set trap for all budding terrorists. According to the "flypaper theory," Bush was not showing disregard for the welfare of the troops, but was instead revealing a military strategy that draws the enemy away from American soil and unarmed citizens and toward able soldiers.
The "flypaper theory" just recently broke from the underground ranks of weblog enthusiasts into the mainstream media via CNN's interview with Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who called Iraq a "terrorist magnet," adding, "This is exactly where we want to fight them." L. Paul Bremer, the top civilian administrator in Iraq, further bolstered the theory when an August 9 New York Times story quoted him as saying, "Though it is hard on us here, I would rather be fighting them here than fighting them in New York."
Nice to see some common sense on this thread. Good post.
Our Marines are trained to win wars, not be policmen in a lawless society, restraind by political correctness. Sometimes, civil war is good and necessary. This is one of those times. Since many of these terrorists are coming in from Iran and Syria, the question is why didn't we go to war against Syria and Iran?
It was just and right to go into Iraq and kill Hussein and wreck his army. However, we went in there and allowed most of the Republican Guard to "go home to your families" instead of killing them. Many of these are now fighting a guerilla warfare against us. Once the major action was done (assuming we destroyed their army which we did not), and once we gave them one year to get their act together, we should have left and gave them the Arnold ("I'll be back") if things got screwed up again. In other words, we should have been out of there by the summer of this year.
What we need is all out total war in the Middle East, let the dust settle, and then we may have a more lasting peace in the Middle East. Maps have been redrawn throughout history, and there is no need to ask the mapmakers to take a permenant retirement now.
If Harry Truman adopted nation building as a plan and installing a democracy as a goal as his first priorities, he never would have A-bombed Japan, and we would be fighting guerilla warfare today in the Pacific, 60 years later. Instead, Truman decided to destroy Japan, then did what he could to get their feet back on the ground. It worked.
This is not working.
We can't keep feeding the world forever.
We can't keep fighting AIDS and disease worldwide forever.
We can't keep hoping that all nations will be good guys.
It is time we become more isolationist, adopt an American first doctrine, get out of the UN and make treaties with our friends. Let the lawless eat each other and keep our guard up.
Nirvana will never happen. We should run our foreign policy accordingly.
Well said! (posts #123, 125)
Re #71:
" Don't these Dems realize they are feeding right into the hands of these terrorists?"
Oh; you mean sort of like they - especially the likes of Hanoi John Kerry - enthusiasticly played into the hands of "Uncle" Ho Chi Minh and his communist/terrorist friends over 30 years ago?
Interesting how history repeats itself... especially if you make sure that the government monopoly manditory union-controlled schrools don't teach it, or "revise" it conveniently before they do.
Doesn't seem to matter if the terrorists are ideological or religious fanatics; as long as they terrorize and kill to ultimately destroy America and all that it has stood for since 1775, the Left seems to just love 'em, don't they?
Am i "questioning the patriotism" of some of our very own leftist media propagandists, academians and politicians here?
Well... i guess I am, now that you mention it...
You?
Re your #72:
"...The 'civilians' could be anybody and could put something in the food just like the candidate in Ukraine who had dioxin put in his soup."
Exactly. And symptoms may not show up for months... or even years.
Was just talking to a VietNam Vet last week at the gun shop - He got a dose of "Agent Orange" and not only he, but his Daughter and Grand-daughter still have incurable sores, rashes, and other weird symptoms.
He said the VA Docs told him the genetic effects can be passed on through at least 7 (SEVEN) generations!
I hope somebody is testing the food and water over there pretty regularly.
But then I hoped they were chowing on the Company level and bunkering any place where a bunch of Troops were gathering, too. They seem to have forgotten a lot since 'Nam.
If they used Agent Orange or some such chemical in the Revolution, we'd still have people suffering the effects now.
Think about it.
What about war crimes charges for those we capture? They should be lined up and shot like the war criminals they are. Since when has any enemy the USA has faced in war ever followed the Geneva Convention? I say to hel* with it and treat them like the savages they are. These beasts are worse than the Nazis and Japs.
Re:
"Tell us, Unc, just how you would have easily put a stop to such an attack."
D'ya really want to know?
OK then...
Didn't say it'd be easy.
But for starts, start thinking like the enemy. Look for ways to penetrate your own defenses.
Get creative. Take inventory of available resources, and don't be afraid to improvise (like they did using junk from the dump for armor and begging ammo from the Danes... they also bartered from other coallition units for ammo using their engineering resources as collatteral, since our State couldn't be bothered to supply them with enough ammo to fend off attackers... if you're a vet you know how that works)
As far as the Mess situation; Don't set up a central Mess facility in a combat zone; read what another VN Vet posted about "Tactical Feeding"; The food and ambiance sux, but less blood is shed in the long run. Set up smaller sattilite messes and gyms, etc., on a Company or at least Battallion level.
You DON't put 400 freaking men all in one big circus tent at one time within range of enemy ordnance, for cryin' out loud! And Racially profile!! SEARCH the raghead's packs; confirm IDs. If they don't like it, lettum scrape shiite in the streets and get clear of 'em.
Where you do have to gather a large number of Troops, set up frag walls and blast baffles - usually of sandbags or whatever you can find. This is not Ft. Benning; forget about the decor and how well the tables line up.
Stagger the barriers so as not to overly slow down ingress or egress (AKA as "Diddie-Mau")but to prevent a frag distrubution pattern from extending throughout the area.
Even without hostile fire, people drop grenades; weapons go off unexpectedly, especially when men are exhausted or under stress. imagine that! A round should not be able to travel all the way accross a mess or meeting area at a 4' or less level without hitting sandbags. Ordnance detonation, intentional or accidental, would be directed UP by a walled compartment or "cubicle" and away from those in other "cubicles".
If rounds start coming in, your men just have to duck to get cover, not have to run outside looking for the foxholes or culvert shelters (like they use in Mosul); a machinegunner or mortarman could be waiting for them to do just that.
Even most of that Islammakazi would probably have gone up through the roof of the tent; you would have lost 8 or 10 men instead of what; 23 now?
Watch your freaking intel; in Korea the guys on the DMZ would listen to the gooks on the Northern lines tell them via loudspeakers where they were going to be stationed a week before they got their orders, for cripes sakes!
Leave bogus intel lying around or in the shiitecan; see where it turns up. Catch a bogey where he aint supposed to be or pocketing stuff that ain't his business and have him found dead in a dumpster, without a clue. Word gets around.
They play for keeps; we'd better too.
And feed the 5th collum media all the crap they can print, so they don't have a clue what's really going down.
I've got lots more, and I was only in Korea in '68, not in the REAL war, for criminnies sake!
Don't mention it, Mate; any time.
I haven't been over there, but I can guarantee that most of your actions are already in place.
Re your #110:
"Remember Lebanon.?"
Alas; apparently not.
Re your 131-
"I can guarantee that most of your actions are already in place."
I wish you were right, coop.
But can you guarantee that to Lynne POULIN, 45, of Freedom Maine, and 20-year old Thomas DOSTIE from Somerville Maine, of the 133rd National Guard Engineer Battalion, or the rest of the 23 who won't be coming home for Christmas, but in a box draped with the flag of the Country they just gave the "Last Full Measure of Devotion" to save?
Sorry; I can't.
EXACTLY!!
You?
In cases like this??
Yes!
That's a ridiculous comment. You arrogantly act as if you have all the answers, that had our misled military personnel only listened to you, they'd all be safe now.
It doesn't work that way.
Ping
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