ABSENT A CHURCHILL, TRY THIS
The Dems won. Now they HAVE to decide on whether or not to WIN the Iraq war, and they'll be torn apart by their lunatic base when the James Webbs among them stand up for America after sitting out the first six years.
On the assumption that even the Dems cannot all be traitors, after the dust settles "The Elected Ones" will find themselves in need of an actual alternative plan...not the same mouthing the mantra of the lunatic left, but an actual plan.
There are serious disagreements on HOW to win the Iraq war. There’s no certainty that the current strategy is the correct one. There may be many others beside General Batiste's plan. The Dems have offered NOTHING but Bush Hatred as an alternative, and so far they have failed the very idea of a two party system of American governance.
Here’s a serious criticism. John Batiste knows from personal experience what’s going on in Iraq. I’ve heard of nobody, nobody, who’s commented on Gen. Batiste’s performance or character who does not commend him on both, and if there’s to be a “new” discussion on Iraq, it should start here.
Nancy Pelosi says “it depends on how you define victory.” "What the meaning of is, is."
My ass. Victory is non-negotiable. The President's definition of a country that's free of terrorists, able to govern and defend itself is a good one. The strategy he's used isn't working well. Mr. Rumsfeld himself agrees. Bush supporters know that, and it's not disloyalty to our ideals to recognize it. In addition to General Batiste's critique (I like a guy who says it right out and straight up), there may be others, or other strategies, or modifications of this one. We probably don't need a draft, for example.
But the idea that we are fighting for our Civilization without rallying the whole country and calling for sacrifice from all of us, doing it on the cheap is more reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson than of Abraham Lincoln. It’s unworthy of GW Bush, and wrong for America.
President Bush got a lot right, and I have no doubt about his correct judgement to fight this war, but he’s not been a good War Leader. He rallies the troops, but not The People. Perhaps he's too loyal to his subordinates. Perhaps his flaw IS his religious faith...perhaps he actually believes in Human Redemption...and actually believes that KGB's Putin is a man he can trust, and "do business with," and that Vincente Fox is his "friend."
Still, I maintain that the way to deal with an employees weaknesses...oh, by the way, introduce me to the Perfect Man who has no area of weakness... is to identify them and help him, and to find alternative strength elsewhere to cover his areas of weakness.
As I've said before, we need a Winston Churchill.
Absent that, consider this.
Alternative strategy for war in Iraq
BY JOHN BATISTE
Iraq is a failed state created by the United States. Our senior leadership did this to Iraq, to ourselves and to our allies. America is losing a battalion's worth of dead and wounded Americans (as many as 800 men and women) every month and spending up to $2 billion a week on a failed strategy. We are hemorrhaging our national treasure in blood and dollars without anything of relevance to show for it.
The Bush administration continues to get the strategy wrong and to understate the magnitude of the task in Iraq. Most congressional Democrats do not recognize the gravity of the threat, and their Republican counterparts long ago abrogated their constitutional responsibility to oversee the executive branch. Congress has allowed the administration to fight what has essentially been a secret war and to deceive all of us about its supposed causes, progress and cost.
If we permit this to continue, we will guarantee that we fail. Victory will require the kind of leadership, sacrifice and commitment that Americans have not demonstrated since World War II.
It is not too late, however. Victory is nonnegotiable, and we must finish what we started in Iraq with new leadership and a new strategy. We no longer can fight this war on the cheap.
Allow me to offer an alternative strategy and way ahead for debate in the weeks ahead.
• Fix Iraq's huge unemployment problem. Since America cannot increase troop strength in Iraq fast enough, the only alternative is to deny the insurgents an enormous manpower pool by drafting large numbers of combat-age Iraqi men into national service and paying them attractive wages.
• Give tribal sheiks incentives to be part of the solution. This will encourage them to cooperate with the Iraqi government at a price that pales in comparison to the amount of money we are wasting today. The sheiks wield enormous influence, so the tribal structure must play a major role in a representative government.
• Secure the borders with Iran and Syria and stop the flow of support to the insurgency from both countries. Consider recruiting a special border-security force of 100,000 or more by hiring ex-military from NATO contributing nations and/or give the Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians, who already have an enormous stake in stabilizing Iraq, incentives to provide forces.
• Get serious about standing up the Iraqi security forces. This is our No. 1 challenge in Iraq. Pour into the Iraqi army, police and border-security forces the right quantity of resources. Select our very best officers and noncommissioned officers to embed with Iraqi security forces and equip the Iraqis to succeed.
• Until the Iraqi security forces can take control, get a sufficient number of coalition troops into Iraq to establish security. Tens of thousands additional coalition troops may be required. There can be no sanctuary for terrorists and militias in Iraq, and the practice of shifting forces from one province to another does not work and defies counterinsurgency doctrine.
• Federalize Iraq and help the Iraqis construct their own form of representative government. The current European parliamentary model that the CPA imposed on Iraq is not working. Devise a federal system with three regions with preconditions designed to influence behavior. Accept that the Iraqi structure is not likely to resemble our democracy.
• Provide incentives to encourage militias to disband and become part of the solution, or crush them.
• Engage with friendly and unfriendly governments to get Iraq under control and to strengthen and build coalitions. Dialogue is fundamental, and we must engage with all countries, including Iran and Syria. We must get closer to our enemies.
• Finally, put our government on a wartime footing. Consider alternative ways to finance the war with rationing programs and fuel surcharges. Our leaders need to step up and explain the ''what, why, how long and what it will cost'' to each and every one of us.
Properly resource our military in force structure and dollars. Our high-performing Army and Marine Corps are far too small for our national strategy. They are at a breaking point and no longer are in a position to respond to other worldwide contingencies. Indeed, a draft may be required to win a protracted war on terror.
The war in Iraq must be above partisan politics if America is to win the war on terror, prevent a meltdown of the Middle East and prevent a catastrophic WMD attack on our homeland. We owe this to our incredible military, their families, our nation and ourselves.
________________________________________
Maj. Gen. John Batiste (retired) commanded the Army's First Infantry Division, both in Iraq and in Kosovo.
On the assumption that even the Dems cannot all be traitors, after the dust settles "The Elected Ones" will find themselves in need of an actual alternative plan...not the same mouthing the mantra of the lunatic left, but an actual plan.
There are serious disagreements on HOW to win the Iraq war. There’s no certainty that the current strategy is the correct one. There may be many others beside General Batiste's plan. The Dems have offered NOTHING but Bush Hatred as an alternative, and so far they have failed the very idea of a two party system of American governance.
Here’s a serious criticism. John Batiste knows from personal experience what’s going on in Iraq. I’ve heard of nobody, nobody, who’s commented on Gen. Batiste’s performance or character who does not commend him on both, and if there’s to be a “new” discussion on Iraq, it should start here.
Nancy Pelosi says “it depends on how you define victory.” "What the meaning of is, is."
My ass. Victory is non-negotiable. The President's definition of a country that's free of terrorists, able to govern and defend itself is a good one. The strategy he's used isn't working well. Mr. Rumsfeld himself agrees. Bush supporters know that, and it's not disloyalty to our ideals to recognize it. In addition to General Batiste's critique (I like a guy who says it right out and straight up), there may be others, or other strategies, or modifications of this one. We probably don't need a draft, for example.
But the idea that we are fighting for our Civilization without rallying the whole country and calling for sacrifice from all of us, doing it on the cheap is more reminiscent of Lyndon Johnson than of Abraham Lincoln. It’s unworthy of GW Bush, and wrong for America.
President Bush got a lot right, and I have no doubt about his correct judgement to fight this war, but he’s not been a good War Leader. He rallies the troops, but not The People. Perhaps he's too loyal to his subordinates. Perhaps his flaw IS his religious faith...perhaps he actually believes in Human Redemption...and actually believes that KGB's Putin is a man he can trust, and "do business with," and that Vincente Fox is his "friend."
Still, I maintain that the way to deal with an employees weaknesses...oh, by the way, introduce me to the Perfect Man who has no area of weakness... is to identify them and help him, and to find alternative strength elsewhere to cover his areas of weakness.
As I've said before, we need a Winston Churchill.
Absent that, consider this.
Alternative strategy for war in Iraq
BY JOHN BATISTE
Iraq is a failed state created by the United States. Our senior leadership did this to Iraq, to ourselves and to our allies. America is losing a battalion's worth of dead and wounded Americans (as many as 800 men and women) every month and spending up to $2 billion a week on a failed strategy. We are hemorrhaging our national treasure in blood and dollars without anything of relevance to show for it.
The Bush administration continues to get the strategy wrong and to understate the magnitude of the task in Iraq. Most congressional Democrats do not recognize the gravity of the threat, and their Republican counterparts long ago abrogated their constitutional responsibility to oversee the executive branch. Congress has allowed the administration to fight what has essentially been a secret war and to deceive all of us about its supposed causes, progress and cost.
If we permit this to continue, we will guarantee that we fail. Victory will require the kind of leadership, sacrifice and commitment that Americans have not demonstrated since World War II.
It is not too late, however. Victory is nonnegotiable, and we must finish what we started in Iraq with new leadership and a new strategy. We no longer can fight this war on the cheap.
Allow me to offer an alternative strategy and way ahead for debate in the weeks ahead.
• Fix Iraq's huge unemployment problem. Since America cannot increase troop strength in Iraq fast enough, the only alternative is to deny the insurgents an enormous manpower pool by drafting large numbers of combat-age Iraqi men into national service and paying them attractive wages.
• Give tribal sheiks incentives to be part of the solution. This will encourage them to cooperate with the Iraqi government at a price that pales in comparison to the amount of money we are wasting today. The sheiks wield enormous influence, so the tribal structure must play a major role in a representative government.
• Secure the borders with Iran and Syria and stop the flow of support to the insurgency from both countries. Consider recruiting a special border-security force of 100,000 or more by hiring ex-military from NATO contributing nations and/or give the Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians, who already have an enormous stake in stabilizing Iraq, incentives to provide forces.
• Get serious about standing up the Iraqi security forces. This is our No. 1 challenge in Iraq. Pour into the Iraqi army, police and border-security forces the right quantity of resources. Select our very best officers and noncommissioned officers to embed with Iraqi security forces and equip the Iraqis to succeed.
• Until the Iraqi security forces can take control, get a sufficient number of coalition troops into Iraq to establish security. Tens of thousands additional coalition troops may be required. There can be no sanctuary for terrorists and militias in Iraq, and the practice of shifting forces from one province to another does not work and defies counterinsurgency doctrine.
• Federalize Iraq and help the Iraqis construct their own form of representative government. The current European parliamentary model that the CPA imposed on Iraq is not working. Devise a federal system with three regions with preconditions designed to influence behavior. Accept that the Iraqi structure is not likely to resemble our democracy.
• Provide incentives to encourage militias to disband and become part of the solution, or crush them.
• Engage with friendly and unfriendly governments to get Iraq under control and to strengthen and build coalitions. Dialogue is fundamental, and we must engage with all countries, including Iran and Syria. We must get closer to our enemies.
• Finally, put our government on a wartime footing. Consider alternative ways to finance the war with rationing programs and fuel surcharges. Our leaders need to step up and explain the ''what, why, how long and what it will cost'' to each and every one of us.
Properly resource our military in force structure and dollars. Our high-performing Army and Marine Corps are far too small for our national strategy. They are at a breaking point and no longer are in a position to respond to other worldwide contingencies. Indeed, a draft may be required to win a protracted war on terror.
The war in Iraq must be above partisan politics if America is to win the war on terror, prevent a meltdown of the Middle East and prevent a catastrophic WMD attack on our homeland. We owe this to our incredible military, their families, our nation and ourselves.
________________________________________
Maj. Gen. John Batiste (retired) commanded the Army's First Infantry Division, both in Iraq and in Kosovo.
posted by Jerry at 6:10 AM
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