How very Vietnam.....
McClatchy has an article.
Almost every foot soldier interviewed during a week of patrols on the streets and alleys of east Baghdad said that Bush's plan would halt the bloodshed only temporarily. The soldiers cited a variety of reasons, including incompetence or corruption among Iraqi troops, the complexities of Iraq's sectarian violence and the lack of Iraqi public support, a cornerstone of counterinsurgency warfare.Their officers were more optimistic.
The farther up the chain, the farther from the fight, the more positive the response. From the guys doing it every day who don't have any desire to climb the ladder, the truth.
3 Comments:
Yeah, the window has closed. I think that in those first days, certainly maybe. A huge presence coupled with nearly immediate elections. The real problem I see is that the early effort to shape the politics away from Iran delayed elections which allowed the violent groups time to consolidate.
At this point even if you were/are able to stifle the current violence across the entire country, the hatred and revenge will still be there festering, and at the first opportunities, there would be revenge killings which would serve to reignite the sectarian violence.
Mike
By mikevotes, at 9:37 AM
The farther up the chain, the farther from the fight, the more positive the response.
This is what I came away with as well.
By -epm, at 9:47 AM
And again, that's so Vietnam. The ground forces gave up on the cause long before the officers.
This disconnect is the real beginning of a slide in morale.
Mike
By mikevotes, at 10:10 AM
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