‘Bring them on!” President Bush challenged the early Iraqi insurgency in July of last year. Since then, 812 American soldiers have been killed and 6,290 wounded, according to the Pentagon. Almost every day, in campaign speeches, Bush speaks with bravado about how he is “winning” in Iraq. “Our strategy is succeeding,” he boasted to the National Guard convention.
Since the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, deployed in [Ramadi] six months ago, 34 of its members have died and more than a quarter of the 1,000-member unit has been wounded.
“We shouldn’t be here,” said one Marine infantryman bluntly. “There was no reason for invading this country in the first place. We just came here and [angered people] and killed a lot of innocent people,” said the marine, who has seen regular combat in Ramadi. “I don’t enjoy killing women and children, it’s not my thing.”
Last month, the British Army fired 100,000 rounds of ammunition in southern Iraq. The base in al-Ammara sustained more than 400 direct mortar hits. The British battalion there counted some 853 separate attacks of different kinds: mortars, roadside bombs, rockets and machine-gun fire. No British regiment has had such intense “contact”, as they call it, since Korea.
I am a soldier currently deployed in Iraq, I am not an armchair quarterback. Nor am I some politically idealistic and nave young soldier, I am an old and seasoned Non-Commissioned Officer with nearly 20 years under my belt … I have come to the conclusion that we cannot win here for a number of reasons. Ideology and idealism will never trump history and reality … We have fallen victim to the body count mentality all over again. We have shown a willingness to inflict civilian casualties as a necessity of war without realizing that these same casualties create waves of hatred against us. These angry Iraqi citizens translate not only into more recruits for the guerilla army but also into more support of the guerilla army … Our tactics have not adjusted to the battlefield and we are falling behind. Meanwhile the enemy updates his tactics and has shown a remarkable resiliency and adaptability.
[The rebels are] now mounting an average of more than 80 attacks on US targets – four times the number of one year ago and 25% higher than last spring, when the US faced serious uprisings in both the Sunni Triangle and in the south … administration strategists … reject the notion that there are “no-go” areas for US troops [but] want to keep US casualties down and off US television sets and the front pages of newspapers, particularly before the November elections [in the US]. As a result, they appear to have settled on a strategy – bombing suspected insurgent hideouts from the air – that further alienates the civilian population.
Zarqawi’s black flags flutter from the palm trees and buildings along the Baghdad boulevard where we were stopped, an area known as Haifa Street. It’s a no-go zone for U.S. forces. The fact that insurgents tied to al-Zarqawi are patrolling one of Baghdad’s major thoroughfareswithin mortar range of the U.S. embassyis an indication of just how much of the country is beyond the control of U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government.
“A year from now, I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush.” — Richard Perle, one year ago today.
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I totally forgot your email address and wanted to write and tell you I am back and the little tinfoil hat is off 🙂
Dude! Let’s meet up .