Posted by
Saint Michael on Friday, February 09, 2007 2:31:13 PM
I am not frustrated by the pace of the war. I have military experience and training in counter insurgency operations and I know from that knowledge that fighting a counter insurgency and performing a nation building mission takes time. Historically, we have numerous examples of counter insurgencies that went on for years and were very successful. It takes time.
We cannot judge how successful the war is through body bags as the media is doing. We need to count the tangible progress and listen to the Military Commanders on the ground. The reports I hear from friends and family that have served or are serving in Iraq tell me that progress is being made.
I hear reports that Iraq has less electrical power than before the war. Does that take into account the additional electrical devices drawing power from the grid? That was a measure of success in Bosnia and also is in Iraq. Count the number of satellite dishes on the rooftops. The economy in Iraq is booming and people are buying TV's, radios, DVD players, etc. The markets are full of people and progress is being made.
There are still issues in Iraq and the security in Baghdad is not up to par. The troop surge will address that. The analogy that is used in Insurgency operations is that of a bucket of water. When you put your hand in, the water cannot take up that space. When you pull your hand back out the water fills the space back up.
Real world tells us that when the military takes a city the insurgents scatter and when we leave they come back. In Iraq we spent the first 2-3 years training and building the Iraqi Army and we were the hand causing the insurgents to scatter. We did not have enough troops to keep them from coming back as was evident in Fallujah battles I & II.
Now that the Iraqi Army has enough soldiers that can actually hold territory, yes I believe they can, when the American hand is pulled out, an Iraqi hand replaces it and keeps the insurgents from returning to that city. That strategy has worked in Afghanistan and is working in Iraq also. Baghdad is a huge city and it will take additional troops to plunge into the bucket and scatter the insurgents. The Iraqi troops will be necessary to hold Baghdad.