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Originally Posted by dc_dux
Acccording to Aberzaid's testimony in Dec, he, Casey and all the commanders on the ground indicated that more troops were not required...to secure Baghdad, hit Anbar, or take out the militias. The plan also has NO real benchmarks to hold the Iraqis accountable for demonstrating progress on either the security or polical front.
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Than why would they send more soldiers?
Hasn't the complaint from the very start been "not enough soldiers"?
Now people are saying "too many soldiers".
Give it a try...see if there is improvement. If the objetives aren't being met in a set amount of time, pull 'em back.
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How many times must it be said that there are other viable options, with a much greater emphasis on political and diplomatic solutions.
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Agreed, but there needs to be some amount of security and stability in Baghdad proper( the seat of government) for the political process to work, if its going to work at all. Why nobody figured this out 2-3 years ago I have no clue. Maybe they were not willing to put more troops into Iraq due to low public opinion, which was partly due to negative publicity, which was partly due to partisanship in Washington.
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There are many who believe it is time to hold the Iraqis more accountable in a definable measurable way, both in terms of politcal progress among the sectarian interests and in terms of training the ISF, while continuing our support in a different manner than a growing face of US military occupation with no end in sight.
Without such benchmarks and a firm and clearly understood timetable for the Iraqis to act, they will continue to suck off the US tit and our guys will continue to be in the cross-fire of what the recent NIE says is primarily a sectarian civil war.
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Agreed. Perhaps what Maliki is doing is using US Forces to 'allow' shiite attacks on sunnis. It's bullshit and it should stop. NATO is helping train Iraqi forces as well. I agree there needs to be more of a sense of urgency from the Iraqi goverment. Give it a little longer...let this last go-round play out.