Monday 25th of November 2024

surged .....

 

surged .....

from the NYT …..

Longer Duty Leaves Forces Disappointed but Stoic

Word of the extension arrived almost by accident here at the rambling villa in the countryside east of Ramadi that the men from Company B, First Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment of the First Infantry Division, have turned into an American-Iraqi military base.

Shortly after midnight, First Sgt. Jody Heikkinen spotted an article about it on the Internet, and the company officers were caught off guard. "We're trying to figure out what it means," said Capt. Chris Calihan, 31, the company commander.

The soldiers had been scheduled to return home in June, but the announcement appeared to extend their stay until September.

Among those soldiers who were still awake, there were muffled outbursts of anger and frustration laced with dark humor.

wally world .....

‘Dude! Long time no speak. Guess you’ve been kind of busy listening in on 300 million Americans’ telephone calls and reading all their electronic messages and practicing your whistle blowing for the White House Easter wing-ding.

There’s been talk that The Surge seems to be the stupidest idea you’ve had since you decided to run for President.

Some pointy-heads in England have just issued a report stating that you and Tony’s Iraq invasion has "spawned new terror in the region," and that "treating Iraq as part of the war on terror... created a combat training zone for jihadists."

Worst of all you’ve only just figured out that as Leader of the Free World and Commander in Chief you suck. Where you been boy? Wally World?

So now as Decider you’ve decided to delegate the blame… ’scuse me… I mean responsibility for Iraq to a new post: War Czar!

Smokin’! You’ve finally made a decision of which I approve.’

Dear Dubya, I Found You a War Czar!

A warczariot

From the Washington Post

Why I Declined To Serve

By John J. Sheehan Monday, April 16, 2007; Page A17

 

Service to the nation is both a responsibility and an honor for every citizen presented with the opportunity. This is especially true in times of war and crisis. Today, because of the war in Iraq, this nation is in a crisis of confidence and is confused about its foreign policy direction, especially in the Middle East.

When asked whether I would like to be considered for the position of White House implementation manager for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I knew that it would be a difficult assignment, but also an honor, and that this was a serious task that needed to be done. I served as the military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense in the mid-1980s and more recently as commander in chief of the Atlantic Command during the Cuban and Haitian migrant operation and the reconstruction of Haiti. Based on my experience, I knew that a White House position of this nature would require interagency acceptance. Cabinet-level agencies, organizations and their leadership must buy in to the position's roles and responsibilities. Most important, Cabinet-level personalities must develop and accept a clear definition of the strategic approach to policy.

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Gus: quite interestingly, in the three strategies subsequently proposed by the good retired Marine Corps General (read his article in the Washington Post), none have included recapturing the good will of the Iraqi people by treading very softly rather than with boots loudly crunching the sand dunes of Iraq, resonating through the seweraged street of Baghdad and shooting everything that seem to move in the wrong direction.

In all his rhetoric which sounds fine in the refusal to serve, specially paying dues to the attention deficit disorder of the US administration, none really mention the crux of the grey matter. When more than 70 per cent of a population resents your presence, you have an impossible task in front of you. And doing more sabre-rattling to scare them into submission is not going to improve the stat. Before one can manage the Iraq situation, one has to at least win 67 per cent of the hearts and minds... this even before tackling the problem of insurgency and 'terrorism".

Taking into account that nearly everyone there, if not all, have suffered something from the disgusting Bushit war, it's a long haul to even get one person to laud your presence for more that five minutes, even with giving everyone all the sweets in the world...

Obviously, the US war machine employs tanks and not psychologists (second rate Psychos?) to win wars but then the hard yakka is harder than granite. Grinning mouths might smile at you, but the hearts are full of hatred. Turn around and you're blown up. For reasons that you may never know. When the situation is explosive, one does not add TNT to the forum... One defuses the bits one at a time. It's time to remove troops, no matter the follow on... It will sort itself out in the only way it can... Unstrategically... and un-US-edly...

Time, please.

From the Guardian

Staff and agencies
Monday April 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The political movement of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today ordered its six cabinet ministers to quit the Iraqi government.

Sadr officials confirmed the withdrawal at a news conference, saying it had been caused by the refusal of the Shia prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Referring to last Monday's mass rally of Sadr supporters in the city of Najaf, Nassar al-Rubaie, the head of the Sadrist bloc in parliament, said: "They went out in a demonstration in their millions asking for a timetable for withdrawal.

"We noticed the prime minister's response did not express the will of the people.

"For the public benefit and lifting the suffering of the patient Iraqi people ... we found it necessary to issue an order to the ministers of the Sadrist bloc to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi government."