On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 23:44:15 GMT, eponymous cowherd
wrote:

In article ,
Ed Rasimus wrote:

If you are only happy by ascribing "failure" to the military
operation, far be it from me to disabuse you of the notion. We aren't
dealing here with changing operational conditions. This isn't fluidity
of a front or unforeseen maneuvering of enemy forces. It isn't
resistance efforts by an occupied nation to an imperialist force--it
is cultural, tribal and ethnic dissonance very similar to the Balkans.
Absent a unifying (and often oppressive) leader like Tito or even
Sadaam, the underlying animosity resurfaces and the national construct
fractures.

That's all true, but you are leaving out Gen. Abizaid giving Bush the big speech
about how he understand Arabs cuz he's one and he knows its all going to work
because their is no civil war. It's not the DOD's fault that bringing Western
political systems to the muslims is a waste of time, but the Abizaid types at
the top who refuse to call a spade a spade in front of the big man have blood on
their hands.

I think you're doing a bit of lib-media sound-biting on this.

Abizaid is fluent in Arabic. That gives him a big leg up on
understanding what is going on in theater. He can interact with local
leadership and not suffer the mis-understandings inherent in
interpreters. That's a good thing.

Whether or not the activity in Iraq is called "civil war" is
irrelevant. What it is called isn't important. You like insurgency,
revolution, civil war, rebellion, internecine strife, resistance to
occupation or whatever terminology, go for it.

The fact is that the US military has been given a mission. It is one
that is non-traditional and one for which they are not optimized.
Police training, security, infrastructure restoration, civil affairs,
etc. are all things which the military CAN do, but also things which
are only tangential to the primary role. If one really wants to open a
bucket of worms, consider that the roles required to stabilize Iraq
are, at least nominally, the charter described roles of the UN. (But,
we all know that isn't a starter.)


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com