Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Eugene Robinson thinks this is a terrible idea, and I agree

I think it would be difficult for anyone to disagree with way that Eugene Robinson states his belief in today's Washington Post:

Here's an idea: Let's send more U.S. troops to Iraq. The generals say it's way too late to even think about resurrecting Colin Powell's "overwhelming force" doctrine, so let's send over a modest "surge" in troop strength that has almost no chance of making any difference -- except in the casualty count. Oh, and let's not give these soldiers and Marines any sort of well-defined mission. Let's just send them out into the bloody chaos of Baghdad and the deadly badlands of Anbar province with orders not to come back until they "get the job done."

I don't know about you, but that strikes me as a terrible idea, arguably the worst imaginable "way forward" in Iraq. So of course this seems to be where George W. Bush is headed.


Under that scenario it is a horrible idea and one that should not be even considered. If there is going to be any increase in troops that should only be done with defined missions, heck the troops that are already there should have more defined missions as far as what is the minimum level of security Iraq needs to have to be able to withdrawl our troops and let the Iraqi's take over.

Robinson continues:

There are more than 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and it's unclear what they are supposed to be accomplishing. It should be obvious that to establish security in all of Iraq and disarm the sectarian militias -- to conduct a proper occupation, in other words -- would require a massive infusion of boots on the ground. The Pentagon says that finding even an additional 20,000 to 30,000 troops to send would be a stretch, and officials warn (perhaps a little melodramatically) of the danger that the demands of Bush's war "will break" the U.S. Army.

I recommend reading the full article, he makes some very valid points.

4 comments:

Scott G said...

I don't think sending more troops is the right move now. Besides the strains on our military, they will only cause more attacks on them and foreign fighters to join the fight. I still think the better plan is to reduce the combat force but increase the speed and lethality of the smaller force so that we have less of a footprint but can still react as needed.

Mark said...

Right now my biggest problem with the troops being in Iraq (still supporting the war, and still NOT supporting the adminstration thereof) is that they are sending green soldiers with very little training and even less equipment. This is straight from a soldier who's just got done with her regular training (and boy, was that a mess), and escaped Iraq by being in officer training and college. Her buddies who were not so lucky? They are driving around with the piss-poor training she got, in armorless Humvees.

That really pisses me off! And now they want to send more?!? People just as untrained and untried as these guys? If not...if we have trained and tried soldiers to spare, why weren't we sending them before the green kids straight out of boot camp?

Soldiers risk their lives. This I understand. I understand why people do it. And I understand it's necessary to do it for the sanctity of a nation. I even believe in the wars they're doing it in now. However, to send these soldiers over there without the training, without the equipment, without the mission and purpose to actually accomplish an objective they understand?!? That I see as unconscionable.

Mark said...

"I still think the better plan is to reduce the combat force but increase the speed and lethality of the smaller force so that we have less of a footprint but can still react as needed."

I agree. Special forces guys. Specially trained, excellently equiped, very specific well-thought out missions and objectives. Actual accomplishments that the media can't deny.

Americans have, in the past, planned excellent battles with very specific objectives, accomplished them (sometimes at great cost) and turned entire wars around by doing so. That's the kind of thing we need.

Hooda Thunkit (Dave Zawodny) said...

You know, we've shown our ability to remotely fight this war.

Increasing the technology is the preferred way to fight a war that the locals have no stomach for.