In article ,
The Daring Dufas wrote:


I wish more people, regardless of their political
leanings, would understand that soldiers are not
policemen. The sooner the Iraqi government gets
it's police forces together, the sooner American
troops can leave the area. Right now, The Iraqi
Police are not quite up to the task of securing
the country. I wish they would hurry up. Our
troops are leaving more areas of Iraq right now
but it's not an overnight job.

TDD

The person I think should be Sec of Defense in ANY upcoming
administration, but won't be, suggests that that is not necessarily true.
I commend to you the writings of Thomas P.M. Barnett, especially his
book The Pentagon's New Map.
He suggests that the US Armed Forces should essentially morph into
two separate groups. The Leviathan that has the current military goal of
killing people and breaking things and the "Sys_Admin" part that is
heavily on the Civil to work to put the things the Leviathan is forced
break back together again.
Iraq suggests that we are probably among the best in the world on
Leviathan side, but the Sys-Admin parts need substantial work.
A Cliff Notes version of Dr. Barnett's thesis, and the thinking behind
it can be found at:
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/peo...nett-con0.html