Just as David Ignatius told us how the generals now have a "new" strategy for Iraq, we get word that whatever the "new" strategy is, it still isn't working.
From Tuesday's San Francisco Chronicle:
A senior U.S. Marine commander said Monday that insurgents loyal to militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had taken over at least five key western Iraqi towns on the border with Syria and were forcing local residents to flee…
Two weeks ago, Marine spokesmen denied initial reports that insurgents had taken control of the area…
We have no reason to believe anything we hear about the war in Iraq or anywhere else that we hear from any source in our government.
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Mentally challenged Lynndie England has been convicted on six counts connected with the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, and faces up to ten years in prison.
Alberto Gonzales, Donald Rumsfeld, and General Geoffrey Miller, chief architects of the "torture culture," have yet to face charges of anything.
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Richard Cheney and John Bolton, key players in the Iraq "intelligence cook off," still hold offices of nearly unimaginable power.
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Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, former operational commander of forces in Iraq who signed a memorandum that authorized 12 torture techniques that exceeded guidelines of the Army's Field Manua, was cleared of any "wrongdoing" by an Army inquiry.
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This Iraq war has been a continuous cycle of hoax-debacle-cover up. Only a nation of lemmings would continue to support it indefinitely.
Get the constitution ratified, hold the elections, bring the troops home.
I suspect the same. What do we do then? Bomb them into constitutionality?
ReplyDeleteDisaster.
Re: Al Qaim:
ReplyDeleteThe son of a friend is a USMC Co. Comnmander in the battalion which was in Al Qaim last year. He said they had relieved a Sqdn of the Army's 3d ACR and spent the first couple of weeks after the Army left snickering about how the Army did things and how they were going to do the USMC "hearts and minds" thing.
That lasted for the first couple of months until they got badly lit up twice. It was also around that time that the insurgents, who had apparently taken time off to see "Fargo", latched on to one of the battalion's Iraqi translators and fed him through a wood chipper.
After that, it was classic Vietnam - style tactics: venture out from well-fortified fire bases on search and destroy patrols.
When the battalion travelled from Kuwait to Al Qaim in 2/04, it did so by road convoy; when it left in 10/04 it flew out -- in the intervening eight months the roads had gotten too dangerous for long road convoys.
The battalion has just begun a new tour in Ramadi and, per the friend's son, Ramadi makes Al Qaim look like a walk in the park.
This war is over.
fbg,
ReplyDeleteYeah. It is.
I agree on your assessment of the Lynndie England farce. No high ranking official has even been remotely troubled with any inquiry and the media has been silent. Doesen't anyone realize that soldiers follow orders?
ReplyDeleteDudack,
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're either following orders or they're doing illegal things under leadership's nose. Either way, the problem lies way farther up the chain of command. (Like the CinC, maybe).
Jeff
Following orders or not, there still remains the ability to deny an order which is unlawful in nature.
ReplyDeleteObviously a moron could see fairly clear in most of these cases to date, where the line was crossed at.
The problem that remains to be rectified, are the SNCOIC's and OIC's, along with the non-military personnel to be held accountable for their orders and subsequent non-action(s).
I have no idea if anyone has seen the posting on Americablog.com - about the 'porn for dead pictures', coming from the "Nowthatsfuckedup.com" website.
If you haven't yet, I strongly suggest you slide over to John's place and look into his work into the matter. AP broke the story yesterday, finally.
Then compare and contrast the sentencing of England, and the rest of the enlisted personnel, with the pictures and non-action to date regarding these incidences, and photos you see at hand.
Semper FI
B.D.,
ReplyDeleteI don't so much have heartburn with England being punished, I have problems with all the higher ups who haven't been.
And ultimately, this all came down from Sanchez/Rumsfeld. And Powell told them they were asking for trouble.
As to the NTFU site--I'm appalled at that too.
Jeff
CMDR Huber -
ReplyDeleteLike I was trying to point out (albeit not so clearly) ... it WAS those SNCO's, Officers AND non-military personnel who NEED TO BE PUNISHED, yet. I didn't communicate that effectively enough.
Lynndie was unfortunately a pawn, and I think her sentencing reflects such.
You'd mentioned a republic crumbling, or something the other day in a post? How about the same one screaming bloody murder now?
Hell knows no fury like a pissed off Marine...
BD,
ReplyDeleteI kinda/sorta think we're mostly in agreement on this.
And also that our republic needs to scream bloody murder over it.
As always, appreciate your visits and posts.
Best,
Jeff