Two Marines. Different attitudes.
War in Iraq
The Honorable John P. Murtha
November 17, 2005
The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion. The American public is way ahead of us. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq, but it is time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We can not continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf Region.
"Ohmygod! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" It sure is. On the enemy.
A Marine reports from Iraq
By An anonymous Marine
November 22, 2005
Bad guy tactics: When the enemy is engaged on an infantry level they get their a**** kicked every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal banzai-type charges were very common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally sacrifice eight-to-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing AKs and RPGs directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like grass every time — see the M2 and M240 above. [Name redacted]’s base was hit like this often. When engaged, the enemy has a tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that’s the end of that, more often than not.
These hole-ups are referred to as “Alpha Whiskey Romeos” (“Allah’s Waiting Room”). We have the laser-guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast movers, mostly Marine F-18s, are taking an ever-increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all. Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45,000 and 50,000. That is why we’re seeing fewer and fewer infantry attacks and more improvised-explosive devices, suicide bomber s***. The new strategy is simple: attrition.
With all due respect to Mr. Murtha the war is going as advertised. It’s just if you listen to the media, who don’t seem to appreciate the difference between objectivity and negativity, you’d think Iraq was in complete disarray. More than a few right bastards might even feel a bit uplifted at the notion. So sorry to burst your bubble. There has always been a plan, and it’s going fairly well. Two elections and a constitution into it and you’d think people would have noticed by now.
In spite of this and contrary to popular opinion the military has not quite done all they can in Iraq. And I’m not talking about building more schools and hospitals. The fact is after 9/11 we had a tough problem: how to draw our enemy out of the shadows that favored them to fight instead where our military might could be brought to bear. There is no good time or place to wage war, but could we have expected anything better than the giant Alpha Whiskey Romeo Iraq has become? Are we not still busy issuing one way tickets to paradise? The enemy is where we want him and he’s losing. Which understandably flummoxes those whose twisted worldview figures the US as supervillain. "The bad guys can’t win! They must therefore immediately surrender and withdraw!" Riiiiight. Sounds like we’re doing just fine.
Its all how you define victory, winning and mission accomplished. Murtha is entitled to his opinion (political viewpoint), but his conclusion to begin the pullout is foolish.
Two considerations:
Attrition – whose directing this strategy against whom? It is cutting both ways.
The concept that we have “drawn out” the enemy and are facing them is pretty overstated. How much of the enemy are we encountering and how many are new fodder to throw at our troops is at best poorly understood and underestimated. We had no idea what kind of numbers the enemy had at its disposal prior to 9/11 and we have less actual knowledge now. All we know is that they keep sending them at our troops and civilians, they keep producing and implementing IEDs, and they keep attacking soft targets overseas. (What happens when we finally seal the Iraq borders and the Fundis need to go to someone else’s house to play?)
This leaves us with one bright consideration, US soil has not been tainted by Fundi scum since 9/11. I hope this has to do with public awareness and law enforcement intensity in this country more than the black hole of Iraq (black hole meaning all the fundis are getting drawn toward the center of the conflict). It would not take long for the Fundis to exploit the US – my understanding from sources close to some of our soft targets is that we are still at significant risk – mainly because people in authority choose to ignore the questions instead of address them.