Quote:
Originally Posted by 9th Engineer
The next time a cry goes out to put them somewhere where they aren't guarding something either massively expensive or irreplaceable, the voice of reason has only to shout back "Remember Iraq!".
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You may not have been here in 2003 when voices were shouting "Remember Nam". But a majority was convinced Saddam wanted to attack America (which was never true) only because American leaders lied in a heated frenzy. We could have also easily gotten into a shooting war with China over a silly spy plane for same reasons. Simple concepts made obvious both wars as wrongheaded.
People such as Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfovitz, etc also said we could not liberate Kuwait. It was not until Margaret Thatcher put a backbone into George Sr in Denver and then Brent Scowcroft finished the operation in Camp David - then our leaders suddenly realized a smoking gun existed. It took an almost shameful something like two weeks for America to realize that was a justified war.
Both "Mission Accomplished" and Nam were wars justified by lies. Desert Storm and WWII were justified by a smoking gun, fought with a defined strategic objective, and therefore military victories. Even the Balkans, so criticized by wacko extremists as a defeat, is instead a massive success story complete with politicians negotiating the Serb leader right out of his job and without any 'big dic' military invasion.
In each case, fundamental military concepts were either used or violated. The resulting success or failure followed accordingly.
Returning to Iraq - an American victory is not possible as a Nam victory was not possible - even defined in David Halberstam's 1965 book "Making of a Quagmire". Lessons from both "Mission Accomplished" and Nam are what happens when 'big dics' believe winning battles automatically means winning a war. We are still seeing some make that assumption with the 'Surge'.
The Atlantic is littered with ships torpedoed by Germans. And yet that still did not justify war. To enter a world war, the smoking gun was Pearl Harbor. Only powers that don't want to be will go to war over things silly. Silly examples include a China spy plane incident or mythical WMDs held by a man who wanted desperately to be an American friend - not attack America. War is inevitable. But war is only jusfitified by the most extreme of events - the smoking gun. Do you remember the smoking gun that finally started America's involvment in the Balkans?