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Sir Taliesin · 07-25-2003, 03:37 PM

I don't think any hard firm return dates were given. They told them that if you want to go home, then the way is through Baghdad. No hard, fast return date there. If they didn't know that they would be staying after the war, as an occupying force, then they were stupid. As far as an bad mistakes the administration has made, well there have been several, but there is nothing major.

The occuption was always going to be the hard part of the whole mess. Anyone that thought once the major fighting was over, the rest was easy, is stupid. You had the potential for a hostile population and that, to some extent happened. All the services that had been in place under the Saddom regime were controlled by the Baathist party. Once the war was over, do you let them continue to run things? In this case the Administration said NO. So who is going to run them? Who was going to rebuild the country? How much was going to have to be rebuilt? That question couldn't be answered until the war was over and an assessment done. That couldn't be done in a week or two. Maybe a month or two. Once the assessment is completed, how to you get all the materials into Iraq to rebuild the infrastructure? Once you have the infrastructure rebuilt, then you get back to the question of who is going to run it again. Are you going to let former Baathists take over again or someone else? Who is that someone else? This is why the occupation seems to be going so badly, when in all honesty it probably really isn't. I bet dollars to donuts the rebuilding of Germany after WWII took longer than the rebuilding of Iraq will.

As far as soldiers complaining, everyone on both sides needs to give it a rest. EVERY soldier bitches, moans and growns. That's entirely typical of every soldier in every war that has ever been fought in any country or part of the world. They have and will continue to bitch about their officers and leaders. All that matters is that at the end of the day, they have enough disciple to suck it up and continue the mission. You don't go sticking them in Leavenworth because they whine from time to time. They wouldn't be human if they didn't.

I'm getting of my soapbox now.

07-25-2003, 03:37 PM	#22
Sir Taliesin Silver Dragon Join Date: March 4, 2001 Location: Knoxville, TN USA Age: 62 Posts: 1,641	I don't think any hard firm return dates were given. They told them that if you want to go home, then the way is through Baghdad. No hard, fast return date there. If they didn't know that they would be staying after the war, as an occupying force, then they were stupid. As far as an bad mistakes the administration has made, well there have been several, but there is nothing major. The occuption was always going to be the hard part of the whole mess. Anyone that thought once the major fighting was over, the rest was easy, is stupid. You had the potential for a hostile population and that, to some extent happened. All the services that had been in place under the Saddom regime were controlled by the Baathist party. Once the war was over, do you let them continue to run things? In this case the Administration said NO. So who is going to run them? Who was going to rebuild the country? How much was going to have to be rebuilt? That question couldn't be answered until the war was over and an assessment done. That couldn't be done in a week or two. Maybe a month or two. Once the assessment is completed, how to you get all the materials into Iraq to rebuild the infrastructure? Once you have the infrastructure rebuilt, then you get back to the question of who is going to run it again. Are you going to let former Baathists take over again or someone else? Who is that someone else? This is why the occupation seems to be going so badly, when in all honesty it probably really isn't. I bet dollars to donuts the rebuilding of Germany after WWII took longer than the rebuilding of Iraq will. As far as soldiers complaining, everyone on both sides needs to give it a rest. EVERY soldier bitches, moans and growns. That's entirely typical of every soldier in every war that has ever been fought in any country or part of the world. They have and will continue to bitch about their officers and leaders. All that matters is that at the end of the day, they have enough disciple to suck it up and continue the mission. You don't go sticking them in Leavenworth because they whine from time to time. They wouldn't be human if they didn't. I'm getting of my soapbox now. __________________ Sir Taliesin<br /><br />Hello... Good bye.