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hjs from 11211,

Sorry to disappoint you at the movies, but what you saw was probably based on something that happens hourly in Iraq and Afghanistan. I've been to one twice and the other once and have played a good number of soccer games under body armor, have nearly perfected my kabob recipe, and am semi-proficient in Arabic. Most people would think that's pretty good for a kid from Arkansas who is a Soldier-scholar. There's a whole lot more to our military than what you see at the movies.

How about giving us a little credit? Actors may look good, but Soldiers are what's keeping our Nation's foreign policy afloat.

always brief, was on topic, until u started with ur tyranny

KC,
i'm afraid to talk to you. the fascist might ban us.
guess he/she did not enjoy or did not get yesterday's topic: Snarky Types

Please stay on topic
be civil
be brief...and thanks, as always, for posting on our comments page. We appreciate thoughtful contributions to every topic.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13141451/the_low_post_waiter_theres_a_surge_in_my_soup

"Then there is sectarian violence. I knew one soldier whose job involved escorting a morgue truck around Baghdad every morning. Each morning, his unit would drive around and pick up the covert assassination victims who had been tortured, mutilated and left on the street overnight. They'd toss the bodies in the truck, then unload the bodies at the morgue later. Later that night, while the vast majority of American soldiers slept on FOBs or in police stations, the rival Sunni and Shia gangs would sneak back and forth across town and leave more bodies for the soldier's unit to find the next day. There are no American soldiers in between the gangs and their victims. We come in at the end, when it's too late."

--Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

J
and AFTER the election of 2006
the bush team lost the blank check from congress

as for the neocons fan club member et al, the strategy in iraq didn't start working until rummy and cheney were taken out by bob gates and david petreus taking over field and management of the war, and concentrating on cultural issues that were needed for a long term strategy as well.
just military solutions, cut-and-run as rummy wanted and cheney backed, weren't working because we'd never have enough troops to secure a long term peace. We were winning battles, but losing the war because we were [and still are in Afghanistan and other mideast locations] losing the peace.

Really, moderator? What an odd edit.

Don't Forget!! The U.S. will be heavily reliant on private military contractors, thereby increasing the "troop" levels by 10-30%. The will do support services, logistics, intelligence, security and more!!

Private military contractors never get discussed!

thanks moisa
don't think u get it
it's to early to declare victory and the cost was to great.

Moisha, that's hilarious. We oversaw genocides and ethnic cleansing across Iraq (or strategically looked the other way), and now it's "peaceful"!

Brian,

David Galula said and wrote it all decades ago. See Pacification in Algeria 1956-1958 and Counterinsurgency Warfare, Theory and Practice. The shame is that it took the US Military so many years to admit that it had a problem, and it took Petreus to apparently counter the hubris that produced the problem in the first place. Can't imagine that the geniuses who run the US military didn't read Galula once he was brought to their attention - they aren't intelligent/intellectual enough to figure these things out on their own. The price we pay is in our foot soldiers' blood.

isn't Afghanistan a narco-state, with the government doing nothing or even helping the drug dealers

Um...What was "wise" in any way about anything we did in Central America in the 80's? Is there even one thing?

Thanks to your guests for their service. Given the need for additional troops, do they have any feelings about the need for a draft in the coming years? It sounds like the U.S. military has been stretched to its limits.

The Taliban have forged relationships among many Afghan (and Pakistani) tribes. These tribes have been alienated by Karzai and the Americans, and far more important, they do not perceive the Americans and Karzai as potential winners in the Afghan conflict. They recall the Russian and British defeats. The tribes have long memories, and they know that foreigners don’t stay very long.The United States is behaving like a power not planning to win; and, in any event, they would not be much impressed if the Americans were planning to win.

The tribes therefore do not want to get on the wrong side of the Taliban. That means they aid and shelter Taliban forces, and provide them intelligence on enemy movement and intentions.

when I was at the movies this weekend I saw this great propaganda ad from the one of the branches of the US military. it showed soldiers saving kids and even kicking soccer balls with natives in Afghanistan. if only they weren't actors, if only if was like that.

Good on these guys, they're certainly competent. That said, is this something the military should be doing? We have starved the State Department of funding, while lavishing unbelievable amounts of money on the Pentagon. Are the Armed Services now our de-facto State Department? Is this going to lead to something very scary (outright militaristic empire-building, for example) in the future?