Quote:
Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
The mistake was assuming they could do the occupation on the cheap, and failing to plan to have enough troops on the ground. That meant that we'd be talking about "going in" to Fallujah instead of being there already. We just didn't have enough troops to properly occupy the country and maintain order, and what happened to the ex-SEALs was the predictable result. If the argument is whether to level the town or stand idly by, you're losing either way. I happen to think we lost worse this way, but YMMV.
Agree that it all ties into elections. Why did they fuck the occupation up? Part of it has to be the desire to do it on the cheap, with no domestic sacrifice. General Shinseki said they'd need many, many more troops there, and he got canned for it.
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but why the need to level the town? A few months ago I posted a quote from the Chicago Tribune, where a reporter layed prone on a base rooftop with two marine snipers as they took shots every few minutes at armed men. When the call to prayers got on their nerves, they turned up the Metallica on their radios.
There are a lot of good shots in the marines, and a few weeks of people not going to go outside with guns or beards, or basically without carrying around white flags with both hands, would eliminate the myth that a bunch of bearded whackos beat the world's only superpower. Its Rummy and Wolfy that are beating the world's only superpower. I'd love to see a poll of military personnel on whether they a.) plan to vote for Bush, b.) plan to sit out, or c.) plan to vote for Kerry.
Because unless things change very soon and very drastically, I think a.) is not the plan right now. People are pissed.
In other news, the training units at Fort Irwin (CA?) and whereverville LA are supposedly both getting rotated into Iraq and being replaced with national guard units. I'll PM you with something related.
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