I do believe that the Generals want to “please” the president, so they don’t ask for more than they think he is really willing to give.

While I believe that if they did ask, the Presdient would give them all the support they needed, including more troops, I think the generals may be underplaying how many boots on the ground they need.

Reason I say this is there have been towns the troops have taken, but are to spread out to be able to leave troops there and hold the town, so then we have terrorists and insurgents move in and take the town back, and we end up going back in again to clean them back out.

My take, I don’t know what the real solution to this is, but I do know it is not retreating.

What would I do, if I get to play armchair quarterback like all the politicans?

Hmmm good question.

1. Do what Israel did, and lock Iraq down by sea, air and land. Kill all supplies being snuck across the borders to restock the terrorists.

2. The majority of Iraqis do not want a theocracy, nor sharia law, but what needs to be done is having the different factions pick small delegations, meet and begin dialog so this doesn’t turn into a civil war.

3. Let more Milbloggers get the word out. I see too much inaccurate, biased and plain dis-information and propaganda for the terrorists being played in the media. The MSM is no longer the only information sources out there. Get bloggers involved heavily, allowing those who want to imbed with troops to do so. Remove CNN from the imbeds. While I am sure they believe they are only reporting the news, what they have taken and shown was propaganda from the terrorists, ahnd delivered to them by the terrorists.

Tell me, what would have happened in the media if they had done that during the war, filmed say McCain being tortured and put it up on the airwaves?

4. I would strike out against all who brought up the Draft, laying into them on what would actually happen if we did do something so stupid as this.

5. Once we have the troops needed, with Iraqi forces taking the lead, begin sweeps of all houses and towns. We are the most technological army in the world, we should be able to pin point many things. Lets get to work and use that technology. Search for tunnels, bunkers, weapon caches…ect.

During these sweeps, since Mosques have been special places to have them store weapons and things and shoot at troops from, those too would need to be searched. A little different tact though would be to inlist and get support fro mthe clerics, using the Iraqis themselevs as intermediaries to convince the clerics that what terrorists are doing in Mosques is sacrilege.

6. I would turn loose the full investigative force to find the leakers of national security, secret and classified information to the media. Those found guilty should have the maximum sentence imposed.

7. I would also go after the MSM and put them on trial if they have knowingly endangered US citizens or our allies and/or published known leaked classified material. Make it known to all media outlets this will not be tolerated, especially in a time of war, publishing classified material and if they are uncertain then they damn well better start checking sources and making sure it is alright to run with it.

8. Media likes to sway public opinion by using propaganda fed to them by terrorists. I would start a campaign of propaganda of good news on what is happening also. With as much going on, no good news is ever reported, joe public only hears how many dead. they don’t hear of heroic actions of the soldiers, the saving of children, the building of schools and plants, ect. I would make sure that becomes public and widely spread for everyone to know also.

These are just some of the things I was thinking about as I wrote this…

Meanwhile, for roadside bombs triggered by cellphones….I was curious, why cant we using any kind of jamming or white noise generators to block all signals to such devices? Put white noise generators on all vehicles and have it jam the signal if it is sent while the convoy is rolling over a IED.

Just thoughts on what could be done, since i had my little chance of playing armchair quarterback like the politicians…heh

Who says I hate Republicans? I married one. I work for one. But they have a healthy respect for government and history. Again with the insults…whatsa matter, can’t win on points?

And trust me, I wish he were drinking again. Then maybe he would admit his mistakes.

And nice touch with the drinking claim, whatsa matter, run off the page of party approved talking points and had to improvise? None of you liberals have ever demonstrated even the remotist capacity for individual thought and creativity here. You all post the same exact points, even down to the language and phraseology. Cripes, if you ever have an original thought, or innovative and original way of saying something, send up a flare, we want to know about it, as it’ll be an event of monumental proportions!

The cruel meat hook realities of the real world….what does that mean bucko? Is that some Rambo way of winning a discussion when you run out of facts?

Face it. The war is a mess and so is George. It’s a wonder he hasn’t started drinking again.

There’s that liberal use of Orwellian NewSpeak. For those of you having trouble with the lexicon:

reforms = RUN AWAY, it’s too hard! Give up, it’s too hard. Liberals remind me of The Whiners on the old SNL. It’s tooo haaaard. We don’t liiiikkee ittt. We don’t waaannnt to goooooo. Children attempting to be adults, without a clue as to what disipline or determination or perserverance are. And with no understanding of the cruel, meat hook realities out there in the real world. It’s nice and warn and cozy in Mom and Dad’s basement room, but the real world is seldom so benevolent.

Give me a break. No, it isn’t just Afghanistan, but we stopped there. We had our chance and Georgie blew it. He didn’t catch Osama when he could. And, on election day you won’t just think it is a “liberal problem” with Iraq. It will be a Republican problem. Yes, lots of Democrats went along with “they have weapons of mass destruction” and they didn’t have any (unless you count the ones Ronald Reagan gave them that we already degraded). I suggest you read “State of Denial — written by that writer who used to be very popular at the White House — if you want a complete list of the lies George and Company told it the run-up to this conflict.

Ah, the war on terror. Have you read the 9/11 report? If you had you would see that we are failing on all fronts in the war on terror and it will take a Democratic Congress to enact certain reforms.

The result of my solutions — hmmmm, well a draft would suggest some kind of shared sacrifice for the war effort — sort of like grandma and grandpa’s in WW II and getting rid of Rumsfeld would be a change in direction. What are your solutions??? I bet I can guess.

It’s ok. Let’s dwell. What was the lie? And… please make it a statement that wasn’t said by a leading Democrat.

Keith stated an opinion that I disagree with, “They also need to understand that this was not part of the war on terror”

It is the jist of the liberal problem with Iraq. But the war on terror is being waged on MANY fronts and not just militarily. It isn’t just Afghanistan and then we stop. After the start of the war on Iraq we increased troops in Afghanistan despite liberals’ claims that we moved our eyes of the ball or whatever. We are wagin a war on many fronts and ALSO the terrorists themselves disagree with your opinion. But it’s ok. It’s your right to have it.

Keith stated another opinion that I disagree with, “the Marshall Plan won’t get us out of this — tough love for the Iraqis will.” Leaving… will lead to a humanitarian crisis were slaughter will be the theme. That isn’t tough love. That is irresponsible.

Keith wrote, “But, to say that troop levels have fluctuated because of what the Generals on the ground have requested is just wrong.”

Um. No. It’s fact. The President has said numerous times that he is giving the generals on the ground what they want. Additionally, the troop levels have fluctuated by the tens of thousands as the generals have asked.

Thanks for answering the question. Your solutions are. 1) Fire Rumsfeld and 2) Bring back the draft.

I disagree with both solutions but let’s say you got #1 and then #2. What would be the result of your stated solutions?

But, whatever, we are now in a discussion about how many people died in Iraq since George Bush invaded. Think about that? Think about what those troops could have done in Afghanistan to find Osama. He would really be “dead” now — but, then what would the Republicans do for a campaign theme??

They also need to understand that this was not part of the war on terror until our actions brought the terrorists there. This isn’t anything like WWII at all — the Marshall Plan won’t get us out of this — tough love for the Iraqis will.

The President says we are all sacrificing for this war effort because we pay taxes — how insulting! Especially after all the tax breaks he has given to his wealthy friends. We need to make the Iraqis self sufficient. A deadline for our partial withdrawal should be a good indication that they need to stand up and take control of their own destiny.

I don’t expect that to be easy since we have already basically retreated to the “green zone” — and we are about to lose more soldiers this month since the start of the war. But, to say that troop levels have fluctuated because of what the Generals on the ground have requested is just wrong. We have a Secretary of Defense (who should be fired) that calls those shots.

So, to answer your question — my first two suggestions are to fire Rumsfeld and bring back the draft.

First, Sev DIDN’T say that.

Second, Yes the study is flawed because it uses a 5.5 rate of death prewar during Saddam’s rule which is almost 1/2 of EU’s death rate for the last 60 years during a time of peace and prosperity and 1/3rd less than the US death rate. Additionally, it is lower than all of the middle east countries including Israel.

Also, Iraq Body Count themselves shred the 655,000 number from Lancet.