But yesterday I watched, as many have seen by now, someone who should have a much better understanding, above that of it's citizens, what this countries policies are and their implementation.
McClatchy has a couple of reports that hit on a couple of the Points of the 'surge':
Political: The 'surge' Working, Take 1
Iraqi army prepares assault in Diyala as election law vetoed
Some members of the Sunni Awakening, tribesmen paid by the United States to fight al Qaida Iraq, are fleeing. "They think the security plan will target them after the insurgents," Mulla Sh'hab Alsafi, leader of one local Awakening group, told McClatchy.
Kurds on the streets of Kirkuk were adamant in their opposition to the election law. "Without the Kurdish people, we can't talk about any shiny future for Iraq," said 32-year old Fa'iq Mohammed Qadir. "What happened in the parliament is like a coup against Kurds," said Aso Raheem Sarawi. "It is not constitutional and illegal."
Iraqi Military: The 'surge Working, Take 2
Iraqi forces aren't quite ready to take charge
There's a Video report at the top of this one.
And if this wasn't such a tragic mistake, the invasion and occupation, you might find this report amusing. It reads like a 'Keystone Cop' movie, great descriptive honest take after 6plus years and still going.
Now I would add a quote or two from the above, but there's just too many that could be highlighted, and I did in sending it out, you really have to read the whole thing, and the Video touches on much of it also.
Earlier today I posted up a reply over at VetVoice to a thread about the McCain outlook on the 'surge' and 'counter insurgency', how he figured that combination was going to work still has me baffled.
I'm bringing that here and expanding abit:
CounterIsurgency = surge??
Watching last night's show I sat there scratching my head, than it dawned on me why the head scratching and the reason it seemed the present day Military Leadership, forget the idiots on the civilian side, didn't understand what they were going into in invading a country, what would quickly follow, and Especially CounterInsurgency, if McCain is even partially right in his confusing statement.
I hate to keep putting wartime pilots down, but except for Chopper Pilots, they haven't a clue as to the how to fight wars, nor the policies that are established to supposedly win them, such as CounterInsurgency, they aren't on the ground implimenting the policies, and they rarely see, up close and personal, the damage done by their required actions, bombing etc., except in pictures.
When I went through CI and SERE before 'Nam, CI was sold as the complete Opposite of this new McCain Doctrine, Nixon was Pulling Troops Out Of Country, we were turning over the fleets of River Boats to the S.Vietnamesse and placing one American onboard as an Adviser. We were told we would have a Counter Part when arriving In-Country, never met mine nor got one as others with me had same.
One of the main parts of CounterInsurgency was working with Less Soldiers and working not only with the countries military forces but the civilians, Winning Hearts and Minds, setting up programs to help them, rebuilding or overseeing that by giving security etc..
And we were all labeled as 'Advisers'.
CounterInsurgency had Absolutely Nothing to do with any Escalation In Forces and Heavy Engagements!!
And by the way:
In turning over the River Boats they were quickly breaking down, which they weren't prior to, my brothers on the rivers found out Nobody were PMing the boats, just running them, so the U.S. was stuck with fixing them or scrapping them.
I'm sure this wasn't a lone occurrence, and the other service branches were finding similar.
There were good military forces as well as lax forces in the S.Vietnamesse military, that we were training, that's life.
Let me expand abit on the above.
The United States Population seems to have this thing about Country and Patriotism that more than borders on the total arrogance and apathy that we live in. We somehow think that because we happened to be born here we are Superior beings as to those who were born elsewhere, Yet our forefathers and mothers came here from all over those other places and many still do. And our history shows our brutal treatment of those, we almost eliminated, who actually are native to this big patch of earth.
When one Invades and Occupies another's land and they fight back they are called Enemies, and in todays language they're known as Terrorists, forgetting the Fact they were born there, live there, raise families there, and are even more Patriotic towards their countries as their families heritage is well endowed in those lands, much longer than our own.
Some will take up arms and anything they can find or develope and fight the invaders/occupiers, and the more that is destroyed and their countries citizens killed the more they will fight and others will join them. They also get support from those not willing yet to fight.
Some will start working with the invaders/occupiers as their way of hoping by doing so they will leave quickly.
Than you have some who will either work both sides or use the invaders/occupiers to their advantage, like the politicians, business persons, etc..
Surge: Now most know how this 'surge' in Iraq was sold, and except for those who keep trying to change, revisionist history, that meaning and it's goals, most still know and understand. The two reports at the top show quite clearly it isn't working on more two a couple of it's stated goals.
Escalation An escalation of forces into an occupation is just what it says, bringing more forces into the theater of occupation for a long period of time for added security, and in a Guerilla/Insurgent conflict the only thing it does is put the people fighting the occupation into hiding or laying low, in clear view, untill. And that 'untill' is a weapon of an insurgent, Time.
Counter Insurgency How someone could tie those two words to 'surge' just baffles, especially anyone who was a part of any Counter Insurgency, It is what it says, and I explained in short above. It's a Counter to those who live in the country occupied saying to the people, look we want to help to reestablish what we destroyed and get the Hell Out. Looking to win the Hearts and Minds of the majority by helping them reestablish a government we toppled, their infrastructure we blew up, their homes and businesses we destroyed, their lives we put into total disarray, and more, and once again Get The Hell Out. It is working with as many people as possible not increasing the numbers of fighting forces.
Oh and now they also keep saying the 'surge' is over, sorry it ain't, the escalation is still in effect reportedly with some 15,000 military troops now there over what was before the 'surge'.
Surge and Counter Insurgency are Opposites of a conflict, not working together Policies!
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