Quote:
Originally Posted by tw
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Insurgencies can only be terminated by resolving the problems. There never was a military solution to insurgencies. None of these problems entrenched by Americans can be resolved by Americans.
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But then what has been accomplished? The electrical system is on the verge of collapsing. Much of it is now controlled by insurgencies.
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What was supposed to be already fixed must be torn apart and reconstructed.
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America did not resolve that problem almost five years ago - the only time that problem could have been resolved.
Americans can no longer solve it - no matter how many dollars are thrown at the problem like a grenade.
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What I think you're misunderstanding about my opinion is that I'm not suggesting a military solution anymore than I'm suggesting 'throwing money at a problem.' You said it yourself, the military and the money are tools... but how are you going to do the job if the tools are inadequate?
If we had deployed sufficient troops we could have
a) secured the borders to prevent an ingress of foreign fighters
b) prevented looting in business districts vital to the economy
c) protected the infrastructure from collapse
The low troop numbers now still contribute: we don't have enough men to patrol the borders, fight the insurgency, AND protect the infrastructure, but it COULD BE DONE with enough manpower. Also, with better use of each man on the ground (i.e. focusing more on SF training ING than on blowing up bad guys, and operation on high value low risk targets instead of massive arrests) and intelligence control, we can secure the country.
And Patraeus is correct: this can only provide the opportunity to succeed. The reason I suggest that we need gobs more money is NOT because we would be spending willy nilly on fruitless projects, but because this damaged electricity grid will take vast amounts of investment in Baghdad alone. The level of deterioration has skyrocketed and will take a lot of money.
So with security and general comfort taken care of only then can we worry about political reconciliation. I think you'd be amazed how few people will still be violent with their families well fed, their houses air conditioned, and their businesses not closed for fear of attack. IT would still take years of policy building and arrangement, but with the members of parliament not scared to leave their homes, it will be easier to stay in session.
It is not impossible to fix this, it will just now take far better and robust tools than it would have had we not effed up. Not every military effort is misguided, not every spending effort is a waste. I don't have the time to watch the video, so if this is redundant I apologize.