A 51 State Flag has already been designed
Kentucky.com | 04/20/2007 | Training Iraqi troops drops in priority for U.S. planners — This is just peachy.
Military planners have abandoned the idea that training Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now contend that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces.
Training Iraqi troops, the cornerstone of the Bush administrations Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in priority, officials said.
No change has been announced, and a Pentagon spokesman, Col. Gary Keck, said training Iraqis remains important. “We are just adding another leg to our mission,” Keck said, referring to the greater U.S. role in establishing security that new troops arriving in Iraq will undertake.
mxpwr03
So are you suggesting that there isn’t a civil war going on? Maybe you can show us all those great projects and accomplishments.
Let’s see, today the lights are on for 3 ½ hours a day. Isn’t that an improvement over the 5 hours just two years ago? In 10 years American kids can sell them candles for their fund raisers.
“There are currently 334,000 trained and equipped troops, and I’d wager that about 1/2 are at a comparable XP level of American G.I.s, so the goal now becomes getting them to a higher level. This takes time, years in fact..”
You mean like the troops we trained for WWII, or Viet Nam? I seem to remember that from induction to combat took on average 8-10 months. My sister’s oldest son was trained and deployed in Desert Strom in 11 months. Even saw action.
So is it that Iraq’s are stupid? Or maybe they’re taking advantage of the training, then desert & join the Militia troops for the Civil war they’re all just jonesin’ to start?
And yes – I still blame Bush.
I’ve always wanted to ask this – do you have any relatives in Iraq? How about your own service? You talk the game – I’m just curious if you’ve ponied up any of the walk? -Unlike your President, Vice Pres, Wolfawitz, Condi, Rove and every congressman and senator (except Webb)? I guess I would take you seriously if I thought you actually served.
Why does this present Administration seem to believe that they can send others to die, yet when it comes to themselves and their own families they never see the urgency to send their own? How can you follow cowards like that?
BTW – I was in Army in Germany from 85 to 86 until discharged on a medical. I have three very good friends in the 278th RCT that spent a year in Iraq, plus a nephew, a (Godson) who’s with the Marines in Falujha (sp?) – before you ask.
You’re first point on training – I’m still going to stand by my figure, because (1) there is a huge institutional build-up that needs to happen as well, (2) the culture that accepts corruption as a norm needs to start changing, and this will take decades, (3) I think there is a confidence issue, in terms of a lot of recruits who did not serve under Saddam joining up (4) as you mentioned, some of these recruits are ex-militia or peshmerga and this transition has to be a bit of a shock (5) for specialty jobs there is usually 1-2 years of training.
Your second point – This whole argument of “until you’ve served…” it sounds a bit too Starship Troopers to me, as in a different societal level between citizens and soldiers. I can follow those people because, while they made several, several mistakes after the invasion, they removed Saddam. Moreover, I view the situation in Iraq through the eyes of the Kurds, and every day I think Kurdi zin duah rings truer because Saddam is no longer in power.
Your third point – Yes, I had a cousin in Iraq, he wasn’t a big fan of the culture, or so I assume. I’m friends with several officers at the ROTC at my college who served in Iraq. Personally, I’m going up to M.E.P.s in Indy this week for a physical, and I plan on enlisting after college so I can go in as an E-4.
A simple plan that sure would work:
1. Withdraw all troops
2. Nuke Iraq
3. Liberate Iraq again
Simple, cheap, and no American Boy would even brake a fingernail…