26 August 2005
Years of preparation
I couldn't help but chuckle as I read the latest article telling us that "Iraqi forces may need years of preparation" to be ready to take on the insurgents. Let's be for real. Most of the Americans who participated in WWII or Vietnam were trained in a very short time. And the enemy they faced was probably much more organized and well-equipped. I hardly think the problem is "training." The article provides some anecdotes about the abysmal state of the Iraqi force and ends by quoting a soldier saying, "When they have problems, these guys will just leave their uniforms and walk off." This is the bottom line. Shrub's War has been planned so poorly that it hasn't been able to establish strong support among Iraqis and for this and a litany of other reasons, it's increasingly unpopular with Americans. I wonder how many "years of preparation" it will take before the rightwing supporters of the war will be ready to accept the truth.
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6 comments:
I bet you would be very interested in reading a blog called "Reason in Revolt Now Thunders", it's from a radical kid from the rural heartland.
www.mlmist.blogspot.com
Right on, Karlo. This needs to be pointed out wide and often. I have expected from the beginning that any new Iraqi police and military that America sets up will be riddled with infiltrators of the insurgents -- and many more officers who are sympathetic to the insurgents, and when it comes to the situations when they have to choose between supporting the Americans and supporting fellow Iraqis and fellow Arab Muslims, a significant number of them are of course going to choose the latter. The idea that they will fight and die for an American-imposed "iraqi government" has got to be awfully questionable, until that government is truly representative of them and has legitimacy in their eyes... which will necessarily take a lot more time. Meanwhile, some of America's best kids keep dying.
In many cases, we may be training and arming those who will later fight against us -- a common and unavoidable fate of empires.
Yep. It's ironic, ain't it? I wonder if the insurgents have found that they need to train people for years before they're ready to fight.
Didn't do any time in the military, did you Karlo? It shows, bro...it shows.
They can't get Iraqis to be invested in the new country, and neither can they get enough Afghans to feel the same. My husband has told me time and time again how there is not enough patriotic pride in Afghanistan, no sense of unity, that is essential to creating a national army.
I sincerely hope we are able to grow the Iraqi army to the point where our soldiers can come home, but I'm not surprised our military leadership is projecting at least another four years of the status quo.
Actually Timmer, I did do my time in the Army. So I don't know what it's supposed to "show." Many of the most outspoken critics of the war that I know are people who are either ex-military or freshly returning from Iraq. It's the Fox News mesmerized Joe-5-pack types sitting in front of the boobtube everyday that are so in love with this war as a way to teach all dem evil brown peoples over der somewhere a lesson. Anyone who's been over there and is able to string more than 2 consequetive thoughts together realizes it's a ridiculous venture.
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