If you have time, take a look at "An Honest Victory" by ex-Marine Nathaniel Flick. I don't agree with much of what he says, but I like this:
As things stand, American citizens - and the military - have been offered a false choice between "staying the course" in Iraq and precipitous withdrawal.
This puts the aimpoint smack on the center of the Rovewellian "limited choices" propaganda we've heard since day one with this administration. It was "invade Iraq or do nothing" before. It's "get the job done or slink away" now.
Clearly, now as then, we have a wide range of "courses" to choose from. But before we can truly evaluate them, the administration must come clean with us on what the "job" we need to get done consists of.
JLH
Been eyeballing one of those for a couple months now -- don't need a laptop. But I'm a longtime Mac devotee. Let me know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteRe: the 'false choice' quote: Most of us recognize Iraq is over and we have, well, let's just say we haven't won.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "withdraw immediately" in reality means withdrawing over the course of a year to allow for necessary force protection for the last units to leave.
The false choice is inherent in Karl's just laying in the weeds for us Dems who think we should cut our losses short so he can pounce with "Un-American", "Cut and Run", etc.
What we need is a real choice to pose as an alternative to a continuation of the slow-motion train wreck in Iraq.
Here's a possibility:
1. In 90 to 120 days we reposition all regular Army and USMC light infantry/air assault/SF troops now in Iraq to the Afghan-Pakistan border with the missions of killing/capturing all al Qaeda (on either side of the border) and stabilizing Afghanistan.
2. The remaining forces in Iraq -- Reserve and NG units, regular Army and USMC armor/armored cav/mech infantry -- are relocated to Kuwait in the east and temporary basing in Jordan in the west.
Their missions are to rotate in-country on a regular basis to continue training the Iraqi forces and to act as a Quick Reaction Force if/when the Bandini well and truly hits the air supply.
When the rotation dates for the Reserve and NG units arrive, they are brought home and not replaced. By the end of, say, a year, we'd be down to about two or brigades in Kuwait, about what we had there before the invasion.
If this is militarily viable, it allows us to answer Karl's bumper sticker charge of "Cut and Run" with a bumper sticker response: "Remember 911; Let's finally get Osama Been Forgotten"
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteMy first Mac was a Plus--I bought it with a 40 meg hard drive and an impact printer in, uh... 1988? Well before Windows came out.
I've stuck with the brand ever since. Have had many notebooks, but don't need one any more. (Don't travel...if I do, I can access whatever I need to wherever I go. Computers and web access are everywhere.)
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FBG,
I think your scenario is a very workable and likely one. I'll post more on this later on the front page.
Thanks for stopping by and posting, guys.
Jeff