Friday, April 09, 2004
Situation in Iraq
From Juan Cole's excellent analysis of Iraq:
"The US suffered 6 more combat deaths on Wednesday and Thursday. In a CNN interview retired General Barry MacCaffrey said that the task of the US is to regain control of Baghdad and restore its lines of communication in the South. He gave away a great deal. One may conclude that a) the US has lost control of Baghdad and b) the US communications and supply lines in the South have been cut. That is, a year after the fall of Saddam, the US faces the task of reconquering the country."
Get more troops there now, we can't afford to continue doing this, on the cheap. We are fighting the war that we didn't fight last year. During our invasion, most Iraqi soldiers went home without fighting. Now, they've had time to organize, and in some cases unite in a Sunni-Shiite front. This can be a good thing for the Coalition in the long run. It's "better" that this is occurring now, rather then after June 30. We never should have taken most of our troops out of the city. Now, we have the opportunity of re-taking the cities and getting rid of the pro-Saddam/Jihadists once and for all. We are going to take some losses, but the rebels need to be shown what it is like to face an angry marine.
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"The US suffered 6 more combat deaths on Wednesday and Thursday. In a CNN interview retired General Barry MacCaffrey said that the task of the US is to regain control of Baghdad and restore its lines of communication in the South. He gave away a great deal. One may conclude that a) the US has lost control of Baghdad and b) the US communications and supply lines in the South have been cut. That is, a year after the fall of Saddam, the US faces the task of reconquering the country."
Get more troops there now, we can't afford to continue doing this, on the cheap. We are fighting the war that we didn't fight last year. During our invasion, most Iraqi soldiers went home without fighting. Now, they've had time to organize, and in some cases unite in a Sunni-Shiite front. This can be a good thing for the Coalition in the long run. It's "better" that this is occurring now, rather then after June 30. We never should have taken most of our troops out of the city. Now, we have the opportunity of re-taking the cities and getting rid of the pro-Saddam/Jihadists once and for all. We are going to take some losses, but the rebels need to be shown what it is like to face an angry marine.
