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Update on Iraq...PLEASE DONT GIVE UP

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raveen1978:
People of the World....please read through my thoughts...this is addressed to my fellow Americans....


I noticed that the media and the people of America and Coalition countries are getting anxious for the military to withdraw troops from Iraq. Having been there and able to gauge their progress I believe this is a huge mistake and we should not be asking that question at all for the next 10-20 years.

Iraq needs our help and it is not the insurgency and battling them or even the country's security that will determine whether it is a success or not....it is their government....it is their government's ability to get along with various ethnic and religious sects and how they see each other....it is their governments ability to provide jobs for their people and solve everyday problems...

Right now...at least these generations... will never forget or forgive the Sunni's. Prominant intelligent Shiite and Kurdish leaders that I dealt with on a daily basis absolutely DESPISED anyone that was Sunni or in the Ba'ath Party nevermind the common people in Iraq. I am NOT saying EVERYONE feels this way at all....some people can see that religious sect does not matter....What America and the UN must realize is that we have to stay UNTIL ALL THE PEOPLE VIEW EACH OTHER AS IRAQI.....now, will that be a long time? Yes....about 30-50 years....should we maintain a military presence and state department-heavy presence their until then?....absolutely. Iraq can not fail.

We did not fail Germany, Japan, South Korea, and look at how those countries are doing today. Very Nationalistic and at the same time humble on a global scale....based on democratic principles and economic powerhouses...arguably 3 of the top 8 economies in the world.

This is certainly no exhaustive study on Word War 2 and Iraq, but simply tweaks one’s urge to study more history and search for the parallels that might exist with regard to today’s situation in Iraq. This article from "Talking Proud Magazine" see's several:


1. There was no consensus plan immediately following the war with Germany that addressed what to do about post-war Germany. It took several years for the Marshall Plan to emerge. In the interim, and after, there was a great deal of improvisation. The focus during the war years was on winning. That the Bush administration might not have had a consensus plan on what to do about post-war Iraq should come as no surprise. That the Bush administration might be improvising as its moves down the track should come as no surprise either. The reality is that Americans are great at improvisation, because they are independent thinkers, innovators and creative.


2. That said, President Truman recognized that the US faced significant responsibilities in Germany following the war. He knew there was a good deal of work ahead, that the job ahead was as important as the job just finished. He called on all Americans to dig in and help. President Bush has concluded much the same about Iraq and made similar pleas.

3. There was a Nazi resistance movement in post-war Germany that continued to disturb peace and stability for several years after the war, until at least 1947, perhaps even until 1949-1950. There was debate on how significant this movement was. At the time, many in the US were obsessed by it and many military mistakes were made by focusing too heavily on it. Americans, Britons and innocent Germans died at the hands of the Werwolf. There is a resistance movement in Iraq as well, and its members have killed Americans, Britons and Iraqis. While the US is working hard to deal with these thugs, thus far it has refrained from committing atrocities and making major military blunders as was done after WWII in Germany. The US is trying to rebuild and handle the thugs at the same time, and is to be congratulated for that.

4. The Werwolf had a mouthpiece in Radio Werwolf, and the Iraqi guerrillas have similar mouthpieces throughout the Arab world. There is a consistency in the theme --- to scare the citizens and threaten them with being treated as traitors should they come to support their occupiers.

5. There were many who said democracy in Germany had no chance, just as there are many who say today that democracy in Iraq has no chance. Of course, Germany today is one of the world’s great democracies. The Americans are not seeking retribution and reparations from the Iraqis, just as was the case in Germany. They are simply seeking to keep the Ba’athists out, as they sought to keep the Nazis out, and they are seeking to pursue democratic goals meant to engage Iraqis in the process just as was done with the Germans.

6. It is most interesting to note that the Americans planned to restore and use German industrial and coal-mining revenues as the means to help Germans eat. The Bush administration is planning the same for Iraqi oil revenues.

This next article is fictitious, done by Rand Simberg, and posted to the internet on July 28, 2003. It postulates how today's media might have reported the troubled days following the victory over Nazi Germany. It's an interesting and thought-provoking read.

Administration In Crisis Over Burgeoning Quagmire

August 12, 1945

President Truman, just a few months into his young presidency, is coming under increasing fire from some Congressional Republicans for what appears to be a deteriorating security situation in occupied Germany, with some calling for his removal from office.

Over three months after a formal declaration of an end to hostilities, the occupation is bogged down. Fanatical elements of the former Nazi regime who, in their zeal to liberate their nation from the foreign occupiers, call themselves members of the Werwolf (werewolves) continue to commit almost-daily acts of sabotage against Germany's already-ravaged infrastructure, and attack American troops. They have been laying road mines, poisoning food and water supplies, and setting various traps, often lethal, for the occupying forces.

It's not difficult to find antagonism and anti-Americanism among the population--many complain of the deprivation and lack of security. There are thousands of homeless refugees, and humanitarian efforts seem confused and inadequate.

In the wake of the budding disaster, some have called for more international participation in peacekeeping.

A Red Cross official said that, "...the German people will be more comfortable if their conquerors weren't now their overlords. It makes it difficult to argue that this wasn't an imperialistic war when the occupying troops in the western sector are exclusively American, British and French."

The administration, of course, claims that, given the chaos of the recent war, such a situation is to be expected, and that things will improve with time. As to the suggestion to internationalize the occupying forces, the administration had no official comment, but an unofficial one was a repetition of the quote from General McAuliffe, when asked to surrender in last winter's Battle of the Bulge--"Nuts."

In an attempt to minimize the situation, a White House spokesman pointed out that the casualties were extremely light, and militarily inconsequential, particularly when compared to the loss rates prior to VE Day. Also, the attacks seem to be dying down with each passing month. But this statement was leaped upon by some as heartless, trivializing the deaths and injuries of young American men.

Many critics back in Washington seem now to be prescient, with their previous warnings of just such an outcome a little over a year ago.

One congressman said that "...it's time to ask whether the German people are better off now than they were a few months ago. Yes, a brutal dictator has been deposed, but at least the electricity and water supply were mostly working, and the trains running on time. After years of killing them and destroying their infrastructure with American bombs, it seems to me that the German people have suffered enough without the chaos that our occupation, with its inadequate policing, is bringing."

It's not clear how much support the Werwolf has among the populace, who may be afraid to speak their true minds, given the fearfully overwhelming "Allied" presence in the country. But it is possible that, like the guerilla forces themselves, the people have been inspired by Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels' pre-victory broadcasts, and those of Radio Werwolf.

"God has given up the protection of the people . . . Satan has taken command." Goebbels broadcast last spring. "We Werewolves consider it our supreme duty to kill, to kill and to kill, employing every cunning and while in the darkness of the night, crawling, groping through towns and villages, like wolves, noiselessly, mysteriously."

While no new broadcasts of Goebbels' voice have been heard since early May, no one can be certain as to whether he is alive or dead, and continuing to help orchestrate the attacks and boost morale among the forces for German liberation. As long as his fate, and more importantly, that of the former leader Adolf Hitler himself, remains unresolved, the prospects for pacifying the brutally conquered country may be dim.

Although Grand-Admiral Donitz made a radio announcement of Hitler's brave death in battle to the beleaguered German people on the evening of May 1, some doubt the veracity of that statement, and there has been no evidence to support it, or any body identified as the former Fuehrer's. Rumors of his whereabouts continue to abound, including reported sightings as far away as South America, and many still believe that he is hiding with the "Edelweiss" organization, with thousands of Wehrmacht troops, in a mountain stronghold near the Swiss border.

Many have criticized flawed intelligence for our failure to find him, causing some, in the runup to next year's congressional elections, to call for an investigation.

A staffer of one prominent Senator said, "For months, starting last fall, we were told by this administration that Hitler would make a last stand in a 'National Redoubt' in Bavaria. General Bradley diverted troops to the south and let the Russians take Berlin on the basis of this knowledge. But now we find out that there was no such place, and that Hitler was in Berlin all along. And now we're told that we can't even be sure of where he is, or whether he's alive or dead."

For many, marching in the streets with signs of "No Blood For Soviet Socialism," and "It's All About The Coal," this merely confirmed that the administration had other agendas than its stated one, and that the war was unjustified and unjustifiable.

General Bradley's staff has protested that this is an unfair criticism--that the strategic decision made by General Eisenhower was driven by many factors, of which Hitler's whereabouts was a minor one, but this hasn't silenced the critics, some of whom have bravely called for President Truman's impeachment, despite the fact that most of these decisions were made even before he became president in April. But some have taken the criticism further, and say that failure to get Hitler means a failed war itself.

"Sure, it's nice to have released all those people from the concentration camps, but we were told we were going to war against Hitler, even though he'd done nothing to us," argued one concerned anti-war Senator. "Now they say that we have 'Victory in Europe,' but it seems to me that if they can't produce the man we supposedly went to war against, it's a pretty hollow victory. Without this man that they told us was such a great threat to America, how can even they claim that this war was




We HAVE to stay in Iraq...not as liberators....but as allies...friends....helping this new country out with all it's problems...we must stop talking all this nonsense about withdrawing our troops. What we REALLY need....are MORE troops....we need at least 500,000 more troops in the Active Duty Army as a whole...bottom line...we can not do our job over there in Iraq without a SIGNIFICANT increase in Boots on the Ground...I'm talking what General Shinseki briefed the Commitee initially. Here is exactly what went wrong with the Iraq War and the Planning by the Administration. A good read.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/invasion/interviews/fallows.html


But here are the reasons I know the troop level NEEDS to be raised and why YOU should know this and should be brought to the attention of the American Public:

1. I just read in the Stars and Stripes that AIR FORCE personnel are doing convoy operations....Air Force....Now I have absolutely NOTHING against the Air Force at all....they have won the last few wars for our country...but it is NOT THEIR JOB to do Convoy Operations.....at all...

2. We STILL have National Guard Units in Iraq after 2 years of war. THAT is not their job. The National Guard's main purpose is to stay in their states and response to National Crisis....hmmmm....like Hurricanes!!....There we go. I understand the need for them in the initial war and occupation but we need to replace those troops with Active Duty Army troops and get those guys home to where they are needed.

3. Same for Reserves. They are "RESERVES"! If this is an extented mission then we need to replace those troops with Active Duty Army Troops.

4. The Marines are doing a hell of a job in Western Iraq. They, alongside 3rd ID, won the war for us and that is their strongpoint. The Marines are a smaller force than the army with less troops to pull from. They serve as an all-purpose, fast-response task force, capable of quick action in areas requiring emergency intervention and they should be used as such. We need to keep them free from Iraq along with most of our special forces, to fight the GLOBAL war on terror....not just the Iraq war on terror. We need to replace them with Active Duty Army troops.

5. Non Combat Arms Soldiers should NOT be doing combat arms missions. Period. I don't care if they do a 2 week training course on how to clear a room. I don't care if they are taught a million hours of classroom studies. They should not be doing combat operations.

I am not trying to hurt anyone's pride here. I am simply stating that the higher echelons in a non-combat arms unit do not have the experience or strategical knowledge and terminology that Infantry Officers have. If you want to convert soldiers to 11B, then by all means, convert these soldiers into Infantry Units.

BUT you must take care that you are ALSO training the Officers and Senior NCOs too. Send all Officers to Infantry Career Courses. Adopt the Marine strategy of "every marine is a rifleman first".

Now I can tell you that the Army has SAID they were adopting that, but they did not COMMIT to that strategy. All they did was add a few more exercises with weapons in Basic and then send all Officers to BOLC...but believe me, that does not work. ALL soldiers entering the army should be sent off the Infantry Basic Training and all Officers should be sent off to the Infantry Officer Basic Course. Everyone needs to know how to be an infantryman. Bottomline.



Ladies and Gentlemen...you must realize that we are in a war FOR LIFE.

We are going to be fighting "Terror" our whole lives and probably the lives of our children and grandchildren. "Terror" is such a broad term but what we actually mean is "DISCONTENT"....a person, or group of people (a nation, government, etc) who DOES NOT WANT to be part of the global government; who does not want to play by rules we decide as a global society. You CAN NOT commit genocide, you CAN NOT enslave members of your society, you CAN NOT have weapons of mass destruction or a nuclear program.....these are general consensuses from the International Community and you MUST follow them and as long as you have regimes and nations that have people that are oppressed and uneducated and poor...you will have discontented people....they will have no hope for their future or their childrens futures....and then what are they left with????

Nothing...so they emotionally attach themselves to a cause....fighting their government or fighting the rest of the world....lashing out....when all they really wanted was to live in peace, have a say in their government, and have an education for themselves and provide food and some financial security for their children...

this war....is a combination of a lot of wars......War on Poverty, War for Education, War on Terrorism, War on Dicatorships, War on Stiffling Regimes, and more importantly.....the War for Peace....we can see it.....but it starts here with Iraq....

we need to stop talking about running like Cowards having NOT finished the mission of a PEACEFUL, DEMOCRATIC, STABLE country of Iraq and make sure they survive by ANY MEANS NECESSARY...and now that means MORE volunteers for the Army, MORE troops in Iraq and MORE state department officials and Economic Experts .....no matter how many Americans die...we WILL commit to this war unlike the War in Vietnam....as a people we WILL demand that the Administration pours more soldiers and money and attention into Iraq to stifle the discontent and make that country work...

because if we give up on them....how can i truly know that you would not give up on me?

This War is bigger than you or me....it's about time you became a part of it and accept that this is our generations gift to our civilization...and that we are one people of the world....with one fate.

Thank You.

Sean Stylz
International Rap Superstar

currently

CPT Sean Gilfillan
US ARMY

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