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02-02-2007, 05:14 AM #12
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Re: NBC Nightly News story on US troops in Iraq
No...that's like saying 'I support (whatever NFL team you like) but the Super Bowl is an over blown commercial cesspool not worth watching." Or another anology would be an NFL team playing in the World Series.
*I come in now and again but Iraq is hardly worth debating any more. You support the war? Fine. You think we're doing good against what the liberal media says? Fine. You think we should stay as long as it takes? Fine. No matter what you or I believe about what we percieve to be the truth changes the fact that this war needs to come to a resolution.Last edited by YNKYH8R; 02-02-2007 at 05:29 AM.
Looking for Sympathy? It's in the Dictionary between Sh!t and Syphilis.
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02-02-2007 05:14 AM # ADS
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02-02-2007, 09:54 AM #13
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Re: NBC Nightly News story on US troops in Iraq
No matter what you or I believe about what we percieve to be the truth changes the fact that this war needs to come to a resolution.Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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02-02-2007, 03:43 PM #14
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Re: NBC Nightly News story on US troops in Iraq
Poet/war veteran Russ Vaughan is inspired:
http://www.oldwardogs.us/2007/02/wapo_weasels_ii.html
Want to slam our soldiers, Arkin?
Well here is one to slam.
I got used to Lefty slamming
When I came back from Vietnam.
So you want to put a muzzle
On our brave fighting men?
Well try muzzling me you jerk,
Just tell me where and when.
Your profession needs a lesson
In basic free speech rights,
For those you worms all hide behind,
For those who fight your fights.
Like all your soft and smarmy kind,
You really have no clue,
Who American warriors truly are,
What our warriors truly do...
How many times in your four years
As a chair-borne analyst,
Were you within an ocean’s width
Of combat’s hard mailed fist?
How many medals did you earn
In those warrens at Fort Meade?
In four years of four-eyed service,
Just what was your bravest deed?
FOX news has combat warriors
To help us understand the score,
While MSM uses clerks like you,
Who have never been to war.
Your resentment of your betters,
Seeps through your bitter writing,
And shows you have no clue or care
Of those who do the fighting.
Like your ivy-cloistered Comrades,
your war’s between the classes,
Dialectics, speeches, theory,
your heads firmly up your
Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66
http://www.oldwardogs.us/2007/02/wapo_weasels_ii.htmlLast edited by Jolie Rouge; 02-02-2007 at 03:47 PM.
Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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03-13-2007, 01:44 PM #15
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Re: NBC Nightly News story on US troops in Iraq
Interview with Acute Politics - Ramadi MilBlogger
By Matthew Currier Burden (Blackfive)
March 13, 2007 11:47 AM
http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentc.../AllItems.aspx
"What's the one story, currently not told, that you would want America to know about?"
One of the areas that has improved at CENTCOM Public Affairs is their ability to work with bloggers. http://www.centcom.mil/sites/uscentc.../AllItems.aspx I'd like to thank SGT Chris Keller for giving me the green light to interview Teflon Don at Acute Politics. http://acutepolitics.blogspot.com/
In my opinion, TD is one of the best writers in the military blog world. He's a combat engineer in Al Anbar (Ramadi/Falluja), Iraq, and, on patrols, serves as a gunner protecting IED hunters. The question at the top of the post is one that TD answers.
If you could, please read David Kilcullen's post at Small Wars Journal and tell us what you think of it - http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/200...hdad-marathon/
Whatever we would have liked to believe four years ago, there is no quick win in Iraq, and that is more true now than ever. Mr Kilcullen succinctly summarizes the reality of the situation in Iraq: We need to improve security, work with the Iraqis and at their pace, and reconcile with the population at large. I further agree with his statement that the way of progress in Iraq is more like police work than classic COIN.
The one thing we must not do is to confuse the real country of Iraq, where there is a real war, a real population, and a real obligation to protect them, with the parallel-universe "quagmire Iraq" of popular imagination.
That pretty much sums it up right there.
A few comments down, there is a Comment from "bg" about measures of effectiveness (MOE). Would you please respond to the comment about polls in America as measures of effectiveness for the insurgency?
I think opinion polls in America are a poor measure of effectiveness. As another commenter to the article pointed out, such polls measure the effectiveness of communication about the war as much or more than they reflect actual conditions on the ground. In the end, though, we may find ourselves once again winning a war, but losing the public opinion. Public opinion is not a military battle to fight, but it has to be won.
As far as realistic measures of our COIN (Counter Insurgency) effectiveness, here are some things that seem like common-sense to me:
Employment: Are there enough jobs? Do people feel safe working? Can you earn enough at an honest job to dissuade you from spending a day placing an IED at whatever the going rate is?
Infrastructure: Is there power? Water? Sewer? Cell phone service? Is the infrastructure that does exist relatively secure, or is it often attacked?
Iraqi Forces: Are the IPs and IA willing to fight? Are they well trained? How is their morale? What is recruitment like?
What is most on the mind of the troops at the moment?
Beer and Women. Did you expect a different answer? :-D
Nope...glad to see that my Army hasn't changed. What worries you most about back home? And what are you hearing from friends or family about home and the US?
I have two main worries.
First, I fear that the violence and disorder of Iraq will find its way back to America. I worry that gangs will begin to attack each other and the police with IEDs, and that more veterans will return to commit crimes "to draw attention to the plight of Iraqis". I worry that more will return no longer able to distinguish colors other than their accustomed black and white- violence or no violence.
Second, I fear that our leaders back home will not allow us to finish what we have started; that we will leave Iraq before there is any hope of order. If we do, I fear that we will have a genocide worse than Darfur or the Balkans on our national conscience, as well as a terrorist threat far beyond our imagination.
What has changed in your area since you began working in Iraq? For the better or for the worse…?
Better - Ramadi, in essentially every aspect. Fewer IEDs, fewer attacks, more workers, more police, more coalition presence.
Worse - The rural areas surrounding Falluja. Part of this is due to another good thing- Falluja is primary patrolled by Iraqi forces now, freeing up American combat power to be exercised outside the city. We have quite the job for us in the countryside rooting up insurgent networks, bomb factories, and the like.Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?