Jim Yanik wrote:
"Dave Bugg" wrote in
:

Jim Yanik wrote:

Armchair Monday morning quarterbacking.

Nope. I wrote the letter nearly three years ago, after frustration
upon frustration in trying to get a response via my congressional
delegate and senators.

you know,after Pearl Harbor and the beginning of WW2 in
Europe,things went bad for a few years,then generals were
changed,and things turned around. And that is what has happened
here in Iraq.

It's been happened because of the surge. That theater-wide positive
turnaround, due to the increase in troops, is ample proof that what I
wrote was right. And in my opinion, we still have far fewer boots on
the ground than we should have.

not just because of more troops,but also the manner in which they are
deployed,and how they act towards the Iraqi people.

And they couldn't be deployed in the new tactical strategy unless there had
been the increase of troops, ie The Surge. I have no idea what you mean by
'how they act toward the Iraqi people'. The Iraqi people believed that
America would do a Somalia-type bug-out, leaving them to hold the bag. They
didn't want to risk their lives by whole-heartedly supporting our troops,
having us leave, and then be subject to an Al Queda led cleansing of
American supporters. As soon as the Iraqis began to believe that we weren't
going to leave, as evidenced by The Surge, the various factional leaders
turned on Al-Queda; they decided to risk an irrevocable move based on faith
in America's commitment to Iraq. I sure as hell hope we don't renege and
bug-out yet again. The result would be worse then the aftermath we left
behind in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Do you remember what happened to our promises to the Montenyard in Vietnam?
They became our most fierce allies. Then we left them high and dry; we
deserted them and left them to the mercies of the NVA. We had promised to
either defend them or take them home with us, and we left them to die. My
own guide and his family were among those that I believe were slaughtered.
He would not leave his village with me because his family was not allowed to
accompany him.

And we sure need a whole lot more boots on the ground in Afghanistan.

Why? OBL and his organization are in Pakistan's Waziristan area.

And they cross back and forth into Afghanistan with near impunity. The
Taliban is regaining lost ground and Al-queda is re-grouping its lost
leadership because we don't have the troops that we need. And if we ever
decide to follow the Taliban and Al Queda into Pakistan, we don't have the
current troop levels in-country to do it. The Bush and Dumsfield war
doctrine is the best friend the anti-war activists have. The morale of the
American people during war is terribly affected by the perception of our
ability to win on the battlefield. The Bush/Dumsfield doctrine was a failure
before our toes ever touched Iraqi sand. I only hope that the success of the
Surge is getting through to Bush, and showing him how utterly wrong he was
in his approach to this war.

The Canadians and Australians won't be willing to cover our butts
much longer.

we've been covering their butts for a long time.

Not in this case. If the Canadians and Aussies decide to pull out, we'll be
in a world of hurt at current American troop levels.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com