Top US general sees lasting Iraq insurgency:Richard Myers

[cal04]

The insurgency in Iraq is not likely to be put down in a year or even two since history shows such uprisings can last a decade or more, the United States' top military commander says. Air Force General Richard Myers says that in the past century, insurgencies around the world have lasted anywhere from seven to 12 years, making a quick fix to the problem in Iraq unlikely.

"This is not the kind of business that can be done in one year, two years probably," Gen Myers said, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. General Myers was filling in for US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, who was scheduled to address the group but became ill after a long trip to Europe.

However, Gen Myers says recent elections in Iraq were a sign that insurgents were not succeeding in their efforts to strike fear in the Iraqi people. American television was full of images in January of Iraqis whose fingers were stained with indelible ink after casting their ballots.

"They were sticking that ink-stained finger in the eye of the insurgents," Gen Myers told a packed ballroom at the Beverly Hilton hotel. In Iraq, negotiations continued on Friday over who would lead the country's new government, talks made more complicated by delicate ethnic and sectarian issues. "There is a lot of tension in the system politically ... which is a very good thing" for a new democracy, Gen Myers said. The new government is expected to make security an immediate focus.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1311637.htm

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. So exactly how many tens of thousands of "terrorists" will Amurka

kill in Iraq, how long will it take, how much debt will it put us in, who will hold that debt, and why are we killing Iraqis anyeffing way?

15 Saudis attacked us, period. We trained some of them, period. Amurka has lost her mind, period.

"Ray" on the other hand, was a great movie, I enjoyed it to the hilt.

[rodeodance]

2. Now they make statements such as this!!--educated people knew this

going into the war--but no one listend!!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Prepackaged fear has a way of diminishing one's ability to perceive

what is real, and what is not. You must admit, these are some tremendous salesmen who have brought us pertual war for perpetual peace.


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[LynnTheDem]

3. 10 years @ $100 billion/yr; 1000 soldiers' lives/ yr ; 50,000 Iraqis/yr

A lot.

[pdurod1]

5. But Hillary said the insurgency was winding down, didn't she?

[Selatius]

6. The US killed 3,000,000 Vietnamese...didn't stop the "insurgency" there

[lebkuchen]

10. Which is why Myers is saying we have another Vietnam on our hands

if the average American is perceptive enough to read between the lines.

[0007]

7. Are we nuts are what? We have created more terrorist and hatred

toward us than any country in the world that I can think of.....junior is a fucking goddamn cocksucker, I hate his guts.

[teryang]

8. Myers is full of it

He is a master of diaster and a purveyor of cliches. His understanding of what is going on in Iraq is next to nil.

Governments resulting from colonial conquest are rotten with corruption and as the twentieth century saw again and again, invariably doomed.

[saigon68]

13. Myers is a tool of the Neocons-- a cold hearted hit man

The blood of thousands of children is on the hands of this very dangerous and evil man.

His planes have destroyed almost a hundred thousand lives.

For every innocent who has been killed, there are a hundred who have declared their personal to repel the invader.

This war will last until the last toothless rustic is driven from Iraq-Nam.

[thebigidea]

9. has this clown ever said a single sentence of value to anyone?

I can't think of a single instance in several years of watching Pentagon press conferences when a Myers response wasn't completely
besides the point.

he's such a goddamn useless Rumsfeld stooge.

didn't the Joint Chiefs used to actually have some sort of power as opposed to being yesmen for Rumsfeld?

[ElectroPrincess]

11. Yes, there were intelligent men of integrity serving as the General

Staff in the Pentagon. However, you forget that was BEFORE they were purged by Rummy, i.e., ostracizing and/or forcing retirement.

You want to know a former Marine General with TRUE moral courage and integrity, I suggest you Goggle General (Ret.) Anthony Zinni. For example: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/zinni.html

Unfortunately, nobody was (Aug 23, 2002), or is now listening, i.e. the whorish Corporate USA media is being controlled by our Executive Branch. :grr:

On Edit - another important link: His views have NOT change, this my fellow DU patriots is a man with moral courage and integrity:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/21/60minutes/main618896.shtml

[thebigidea]

14. sure, I know all about Zinni. twas a rhetorical question

[ElectroPrincess]

16. Thanks ... I used it as an opportunity to bring his name up ; )

[Disturbed]

12. The Military Leaders who defied Rumsfailed..

were asked to retire. The ones that are left just go along to get along.

Same went for the CIA.

The Bush Junta has nuetered most opposition in Amerika.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Suppose we get a new kind of insurgent, one that opposes Islamic rule

because they prefer a secular government in which women are not forced to wear a veil. Should US troops be used then to combat such an insurgent? Should American troops risk their lives so that the ayatollahs force Iraqi women back to the Middle Ages?

The FUBAR possibilities are endless!

[teryang]

18. There are varieties of insurgents

This possibility that you discuss is more likely with every day if reports of progress against the so called al qaeda faction represented by Al Zharquawi are true.

One could readily envision Sunnis from the old security service working for the US and/or inside the current Iraq "transitional" government and/or Sunni "insurgents" doing in the rival fundamentalist claimants to the national uprising credentials. I'm sure all four elements are riddled with duplicitous players communicating with each other.

Another problem is that outside states and intel agencies with various agendas may not want the direction and labeling of the "uprising" unclouded in such a manner. Nor would they like to see the emergence of either a more cohesive insurgency or a powerful stable state of Iraq.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

17. Of course he knew this before... this type of war is discussed

at every staff college the US military has.

there are only two ways to defeat an insurgency, and the US is one of the few empires successful at both.

1. Make the enemy leave (ala American Revolutionary War)
and
2. Utterly destroy all traces of the culture of the occupied (ala American Indian Wars)

This is the biggest problem I have with this bunch of lying bastards, they know this, they knew this.. this is all planned, they are just waiting for the right time to start in earnest.