I Realy Like This Plan for Iraq and McCain is Insane

[leftchick]

There would have to be a draft to keep these soldiers and add more in The Iraqi Meat Grinder like mccain would like to do. ....

http://www.juancole.com/


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Here's how I interpret the contretemps Wednesday between Gen. John Abizaid and Republican Senator John McCain.. McCain wants to send another division, about 20,000 US troops, to Iraq.


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I'd just like to point out that most of Abizaid's arguments could also be deployed for a phased withdrawal, which he opposed. My senator, Carl Levin supports the phased withdrawal idea, and so do I. What if it isn't just an increased US presence that would remove the incentive for Iraqi leaders to compromise and/or fight effectively? What if *present* troop levels do that? I say, let's take out a division ASAP (20,000 men) and make it clear that we're never putting a division back in to replace it. Then let the Iraqis try to fill the resulting vacuum themselves. Give them armored vehicles, tanks, helicopter gunships, and a nice wood-panelled room where they can negotiate with one another.

And then after a couple of months I would pull out another US division.

Such a phased withdrawal is not guaranteed to succeed. It has a better chance of succeeding than the current policy.

[lapfog_1]

1. One fundamental flaw in the plan

And one I see politicians and pundits making all the time.

There is an assumption that the Iraqi armed forces are our allies against the insurgents and whatever foreign terrorists are there. The problem is that a significant minority (maybe 20 percent, maybe 50 percent) of the volunteers signing up to form various Iraqi police units or Army units, are, in fact, loyal to one group of militias or another. And they have been getting guns and ammo and light duty trucks and things from us, which they then use against us. The rest of the volunteers for the Iraqi armed forces have no real sense of loyalty to the government, many show up for training and get a paycheck or two, and then dessert instead of deploy. Giving them armour and heavy artillery is simply creating more work for our troops who would have to hunt down and destroy said armour and artillery after the insurgents use it to kill far more of our troops than the current IEDs. Remember that our forces are concentrated in well defended (against small arms and IED type weapons) bases spread around the country. Imagine the deaths and damage if, say, three or four of our own artillery guns are used to lob shells at our camps from a number of miles away. Yes, we would call in an air strike and take it out. But the damage from the 5 minutes they have to use them would be a lot worse than what we face daily now

Anyway, no soap.

Phased withdrawal is a lose.

We need to collect all of our equipment and troops in the green zone... then pack up everything we want, spike everything we don't want but that could hurt us, and fight our way back to Kuwait.

[leftchick]

2. you make a very valid point

history repeats...