More Troops Needed, Analysts Insist

[QuietStorm]

1 hour ago

By John Hendren and Chris Kraul, Times Staff Writers
(2003-08-20) WASHINGTON--Amid calls for the Bush administration to reevaluate its handling of the Iraq occupation in the wake of Tuesday's deadly truck bombing in Baghdad, Pentagon officials stood by their position that they do not need more troops to ensure security.

The shift in tactics by insurgents toward attacking "soft" targets such as foreign aid workers and Iraq's own infrastructure poses a new set of security challenges by significantly increasing the number of potential sites and victims, analysts said.

Retired Maj. Gen. William L. Nash, former commander of U.S. peacekeeping forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the deteriorating situation called for an additional four brigades -- as many as 25,000 troops -- besides the 146,000 U.S. troops already there.

"The pattern we have seen since earlier this month shows there is a terror offensive taking place," said Nash, now with the Council on Foreign Relations. "It's not going to stop unless we put a stop to it."

more...
http://publicbroadcasting.net/wbur/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=536072

Ah yes the CFR from where all good planning begins.

[Fleshdancer]

1. And yet Rumsfield still says we have enough troops there

This was posted 26 minutes ago on Yahoo:

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday that American military commanders in Iraq (news - web sites) believed that the size of the force there was adequate, even in the aftermath of Tuesday's deadly bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030820/pl_nm/iraq_usa_rumsfeld_dc&cid=615&ncid=1473

This man is a nut case.

[lebkuchen]

4. Rummy is putting pressure on military support

to head to the front lines and leave the typing to Halliburton. Even after doing that, he still won't have enough troops, and civilian employees won't fulfill their contracts to be located in a war-torn area.

Osama Bin Laden couldn't have done a better job dismantling the US. And to think, the US owes its demise to 'Christian' greed.

[tabasco]

2. All the best generals have been fired

Those generals who had the moral courage to speak their minds with Rummy and the cabal were forcedd into retirement. All we have left is a bunch of yes men who say what Rummy tells them to say. Shinseki was a great general and should have beeen the Chairman, but had the balls to tell Rummy more troops were required for the occupation.

[atreides1]

3. Sound Familiar

Most dictators make sure that their Generals are loyal to them, and
not to the country.

I could be mistaken about the loyalty of the Generals, but I doubt it.

[lanlady]

21. Familiar? Yes.

Stalin killed his Generals by the dozen.

[QuietStorm]

6. and Powell they are going to hold on to for safe keeping

or gagging whichever works.

[lebkuchen]

10. Rummy's ultimate demise will result after "Beruit, Part II"

A Faustian bargain, indeed, to deal with the devil in order to get rid of one.

On the other hand, Bush may keep Rummy on the payroll even after the terrorists have hit their predictable mark. He didn't can anybody after 9-11, so why should a couple hundred and a half troops matter?

[Sagan]

5. So will the troops there come home in September?

Didn't the Pentagon say that the 3rd Infantry Division would come home in September? That being the case, who will replace it?

[QuietStorm]

7. I wouldn't bet on it. My question is who is going to help

or is it draft time?

[catmandu57]

8. Thats what I'm wondering

They can't keep the troops there forever, who will replace the soldiers that are there now?

[QuietStorm]

9. who are our only allies for replacement that is

UK who must be getting their ass kicked too. and in the background we have Israel with probably intelligence on the ground but no troops. Of course they have their hands full at the moment moving back into the OT's.

[atreides1]

17. Don't depend on the UK

When the UK only had 45,000 troops in the area, that was 25% of its military force.

The Brits don't have a large standing military, and if Blair gets the
boot who knows what a new PM will do.

[QuietStorm]

19. oh no I think this time

the US has dug itself some real deep hole. We have isolated ourselves now. I can not imagine there will be much help in the way of troops from anywhere else unless India perhaps might be convinced to put troops down on the ground. Our number one friend and ally is Israel. Beyond that I am not sure we are too well looked upon at the moment. IMHO.

[lebkuchen]

12. Divisions are doing double tours

For example, those coming home from a 6 month tour of Kosovo will soon be sent to Iraq. Perhaps in a year, the army will be out of Germany completely, and the army will have an unaccompanied tour in Poland, Romania or Bulgaria to look forward to.

(Re)enlistment problems? Do ya think?

If you have friends in the military who are thinking about getting married, ask them, "Why the hell bother?"

[atreides1]

20. This is the rundown as I understand it

In Iraq you have the 3rd ID, 4th ID, 1st ARM, 101st ABN. Along with
elements of the 3rd ACR, 2nd ACR, and elements of the 82nd ABN.

And then there are the Marines units that are on the ground. The 3rd
Brigade of the 2nd ID, a National Guard Infantry Brigade, and another
Brigade of the 82nd ABN is being sent to replace the 3rd ID.

One half of the 25th ID out of Hawaii is being deployed to Afghanistan
which only leaves about 7,500 troops left to back up the 2nd ID should
the North Koreans decide to react to the provocation that AWOL and his
pals are going to put into place.

Listening to General McCafferty on MSNBC, there are at least 9 National Guard Regiments that can be activated and deployed to Iraq.
All Shrub has to do is grow a set of balls and issue then there marching orders. But that could definitely result in a lot of pissed off voters.

One other thing the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd ID is a new Stryker Brigade
The Stryker was not scheduled to be deployed until 2007.

For those that don't know, the Stryker is a new wheeled, lightly armored vehicle.

[skip fox]

11. We're not only falling into the trap of al-Quaeda, we're

polishing the apple they'll put in our mouths after they slaughter us.

We're headed into a quagmire and the window of opportunity to extract ourselves isquickly closing behind us.

[QuietStorm]

13. oh is that what you meant by that

I thought you might have meant we were polishing the poison apple we planned to give to them. You know Snow White!

[skip fox]

14. Yes, looks grim.

I can't think of a positive result given the realities.

Here's what I see.

We escalate. No (or few) countries help with the policing and rebuilding (because of such bombings as yesterday--there will be more of these. Journalists, US private companies, etc. will be the target in Iraq as well as the daily probing of our troops.) Then they'll go after our troops in a big (and constant) way. We'll see no rea end in sight. We'll prop up some weak government in Iraq, declare victory and leave. The weak government will collapse and Jihadists (not just fundamentalists) will be in charge.

We'll long for the good old days when Saddam was in power as wave after wave of al-Quaeda and other terrorists spread from Iraq (greatest training ground ever!) into Europe, the far East, and America.

Say goodnight, Gracie.

Looks grim.

[Wwagsthedog]

15. Nash sounds like a latter day Westmoreland. n/t

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22william+westmoreland%22&btnG=Google+Search

[tom_paine]

16. After the 2004 "election"

(yeah, right, like Hitler's Plebiscite it will be a free, fair "election")

we will see several things occur. Lame Duck Fuehrer* will show us what he truly is.

National ID Card
The End of Possee Commitatus
The Draft
Reheating the Drug War targeting political opponents
PATRIOT II (or the final end of the Bill of Rights)

The Imperial Subjects of Amerika will too late see what monsters now rule them with an iron fist.

Serves us right.

[Karenina]

18. War is good business.

Invest your child.

[4dsc]

22. More troops, more taxpayer monies down the shithole

SO now we need more troops which will cost more taxpayer's monies that will get more American's killed, ect,ect..

I don't know about you but I'm getting so sick of this shit..


DEAN in 2004!!