Gender: female Member Since: March 14, 2006 Last Signed In: December 11, 2007 Profile Views: 21261 Blog Views: 74540 Bond's record-setting baseball will go into the HOF with an asterisk. "distract, delude, amuse and insulate us." People trust the Democrats more than they trust Republicans. Are you smarter than the average American? Test your knowledge of the news.. Neo-Nazi's go after the Jena 6 Feds investigating Blackwater USA for weapons smuggling The death of the History of Civilization… The good General couldn't accomplish his first job in Iraq, why should we expect anything better out of his second stint there? Support Debra Bowen's decision regarding Diebold voting machines Coast Guard's Deepwater project price skyrockets June 06 July 06 August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 Its My Right to be Left of the Center Bring it On! Sirens Chronicles 
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The good General couldn't accomplish his first job in Iraq, why should we expect anything better out of his second stint there?
Petraeus' first job in Iraq was to train the Iraqi army. He failed miserably at that task, so why would anyone think he could run an entire war successfully? From Alternet:
The occupation set out to rebuild the Iraqi Army and Police. So they could stand up and we could stand down. The man who was given the job was that rising star, Gen. David Petraeus. He failed. Reminds me of the guy at work who never does anything right and manages to rise to his highest level of incompetence by being promoted time and time again. Petraeus has a PHd from Princeton. No one is saying he isn't an intelligent man. But after he was kicked back to the states, after failing to rebuild the Iraq Army, he was given a new job..that of updating the Army's counterinsurgency manual. Its right here if you care to peruse it. Petraeus did a bangup job when he wrote that manual, seriously, he did. He has obviously mastered the english language and how best to use it. Its a clear, concise manual for dealing with insurgents. The counterinsurgency manual recommends a force ratio of between 20 and 25 troops per 1,000 in the population. So lets use Petraeus' own manual to grade his current job so far by using Alternet's writeup again: The current estimated population of Iraq is 27,500,000. The proper size of a counterinsurgency force is therefore a minimum of 550,000, more comfortable at 687,500. Right now, at the peak of the surge, there are about 169,000 coalition troops (92 percent U.S.) in Iraq. That's 381,000 short of the minimum. Or 506,000 short of the more ideal ratio. Ok, so much for those facts in General Petraeus' manual..So judging by his job so far, he isn't following his own advice. Tsk Tsk. Patreaus also wrote in the manual: COIN(counterinsurgency war) is fought among the populace. Counterinsurgents take upon themselves responsibility for the people's well-being in all its manifestations. These include the following: * Security from insurgent intimidation and coercion, as well as from nonpolitical violence and crime. * Provision for basic economic needs. * Provision of essential services, such as water, electricity, sanitation, and medical care. * Sustainment of key social and cultural institutions. * Other aspects that contribute to a society's basic quality of life. Neither the Iraqi government nor the US occupation forces provides any of those things with any regularity do they? Amazingly enough..the insurgents are the only ones that seem to be able to provide most of the essentials on that list above via the black market. After all these years, 4 and counting, the Iraqi citizens still can not count on essential services such as..well you know..clean water, electricity etc...Oh, btw..the first case of Cholera has finally been reported in Iraq and its spreading like crazy. How a counterinsurgency war is fought according to ..yep you guessed it..Petraeus' own Army manual again: The principles of COIN are well known and form the skeleton of this manual. In essence, the counterinsurgent(thats us) should -- * Understand the environment in which the war is being fought. * Isolate the insurgents from their cause and their base. * Secure the population under the rule of law. * Generate intelligence from the population to drive actions against the insurgents. * Apply all elements of national power in unison to support the legitimacy of the host nation's government. * Be prepared for a long commitment, measured in years, if not decades. Well, we now know why Bush and Petraeus have finally stated the US will be in Iraq for decades..its part of the manual written by the General himself! The bottom line is this...Petraeus wrote the manual and Bush is ignoring it. So how can we expect Petraeus to win when he isn't allowed to follow his own advice, which we all can read online? Does the current resident of the oval office really want to win the war in Iraq? I doubt it..he is ignoring the best advice he could get on the subject and is now merely waiting to hand his mess over to the next President of the United States. So if we aren't winning and are unable to follow Petraeus' manual without a draft...its time to pack up the tents and tanks and bring our soldiers home. 18 comments from 8 users
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posted by
dusty1215
on Sep 22, 2007 at 08:48 AM
Hey Charlie..thanks for your usual bs..and did you notice my delete button works quite well when a jackass like you would rather flame the author than address the post and keep it civil? Buh bye Charlie..have a great weekend!
posted by
motopoet
on Sep 22, 2007 at 03:35 PM
It's hard to train people who are bass akwards, 7th century bumpkins with no loyalty to their country. Don't blame the "Good General" for failing to train the untrainable. Once again the focus is being detoured from the truth of what is happening over there and into what the media and strictly anti war, anti bush yayhoos want everyone to know and see.
posted by
randomfactor
on Sep 22, 2007 at 03:53 PM
Mark, what if the truth comes out much closer to what the "anti-bush yayhoos" are saying than what the Pentagon press releases do? The ABY's have been much righter so far than the far-righters have been.
posted by
dusty1215
on Sep 22, 2007 at 03:53 PM
Right Motopoet....jeez, did you even read this or just go off half-cocked? Did you even look at the Army manual that Petraeus created which formulates plans for taking care of the 'insurgents' and securing Iraq? Just curious.. posted by
Charlie3
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:12 PM
Off your meds again eh dusty. It's ok, genetic defects are excusable. Thanks for playing.
posted by
randomfactor
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:14 PM
Charlie, Dusty brings far more to this blog than *YOU* do. Thanks for losing.
posted by
sagefever
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:17 PM
"Ditto" unless insults are your cup of tea and then I'd like to direct your attention to the master~Mr.Don Rickles. spamcode:FLHUG posted by
randomfactor
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:20 PM
Rickles never tickled my funny bone. What I thought funny was his longterm friendship with the "button-down-mind" Bob Newhart. . When I want entertaining insults, I go to the source: posted by
dusty1215
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:21 PM
Charlie..what are you 15 years old? Your comments seem to indicate your far from an adult mentally. tsk tsk...damn shame that you like playing the fool, or the insecure 15 year old male with issues.
posted by
randomfactor
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:21 PM
Well, playtime's over. Insult one another in iambic pentameter or do it not at all.
posted by
dusty1215
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:24 PM
oh no RF, not the iambic pentameter rule again!
posted by
RoyTullis
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:33 PM
Dustry. How can you say that General Petraeus has failed. Did you think he could go in and in three months turn around years of mistakes and an ineffective government. Good God! Give me a break. At least give him a reasonable time to accomplish his program. I believe he will make a difference. He said it all in the introduction of his manual in the first paragraph below. Introduction This is a game of wits and will. You’ve got to be learning and adapting constantly to survive. General Peter J. Schoomaker, USA, 2004 The United States possesses overwhelming conventional military superiority. This capability has pushed its enemies to fight U.S. forces unconventionally, mixing modern technology with ancient techniques of insurgency and terrorism. Most enemies either do not try to defeat the United States with conventional operations or do not limit themselves to purely military means. They know that they cannot compete with U.S. forces on those terms. Instead, they try to exhaust U.S. national will, aiming to win by undermining and outlasting public support. Defeating such enemies presents a huge challenge to the Army and Marine Corps. Meeting it requires creative efforts by every Soldier and Marine. (end of Manual Introduction) My words continue. This war against the insurgents will not be lost by our Military but because of folks just like you who will not give the military the support they need to win. The people of the U.S. have no stomach for long wars. They expect them to be wrapped up in short order as they are in war movies on T.V. Some day, you and I will probably not be here but Americans are going to have to fight a war on U.S. soil. I hope the generation that is alive then has more guts than the majority of this one.
posted by
sagefever
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:36 PM
President Johnson and his generals said the same thing..twice.
posted by
dusty1215
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:42 PM
Roy, the Army Manual COIN that General Petraeus wrote is being ignored. I quoted from it in case you skimmed over the post. If your falling for the 'hes only been there three months,give him a break' line..well, your entitled to your pov sir.
posted by
dusty1215
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:45 PM
Bye Charlie..have a good weekend!
posted by
ChicoEsquela
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:49 PM
Dusty You know about as much about COIN and General Petraeus as MacNamera and MacGeorge Bundy did about Vitenam. Arm chair QB, Arm chair four star both worthless If they knew what they were talking about, they'd be rich! (and down at the track) posted by
dusty1215
on Sep 22, 2007 at 04:54 PM
Evidently I can comprehend what I read, unlike some folks Chico.
posted by
mattloch
on Sep 24, 2007 at 10:21 AM
I hope you're not saying bad things about MacNamera and Bundy, Chico. When you insult the leaders of the military (especially those who wear or wore the uniform), you insult everybody in uniform, remember? Or is it alright since those two were Democratic appointees? I keep forgetting the rules......
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