25 Civilians Blasted

[GDollars37]

[quote]JeffR wrote:
gdol wrote:

It’s not legitimizing anything, it’s saying accept the world as it is, something that seems to be very hard for Republicans to do these days.

Oh, rubbish, gdol. Just for fun tell me what the (dnc) reality is today?
[/quote]

I’d say someone like you, whose lone quibble against Bush, in the face of massive incompetence (Iraq, entitlements, Harriet Myers, etc.) is that he can’t communicate, is not not accepting reality.

And it’s getting kind of old, but again I’m not a Democrat, and won’t be voting for one this year. But I’m thinking Romney is gonna be the GOP nominee, so I’ll probably be writing in Ron Paul or McCain or somebody else with principles.

This should be fun.

Guerrillas, partisans, insurgents, terrorists, etc. will always hide among the people. That’s the way they survive. That’s true of “good” guerrillas (American

I need to pin you down on this. Are you comparing the tactics used by al qaeda to Washington?

OK, erect a straw man Jeff. You’re right, I was implying that Washington killed hostages and used suicide bombing. You got me.

No you dolt, I was saying that the broad contours of guerrilla warfare, i.e. hiding among the people, have been followed by insurgents since the beginning of time. During our Revolution, Washington was leading essentially a conventional force, I was referring to events further south. But history’s not really your strong point is it?

And FYI, during the American Revolution Washington specifically decreed that British prisoners should be treated humanely, while ours were rotting and dying on their ships. Know why? Because it was the right thing to do.

Let’s be very clear.

Revolution, Contras, French Resistance) and bad ones (Hizbullah, Viet Cong, Al Qaeda). They hide among the people because that’s how they avoid being fixed in place and destroyed by the massive firepower of state armies.

This is especially true in Iraq, because it lacks inaccessible terrain (i.e. mountains) to shelter insurgents.

When guerillas hide among the people and our firepower kills the people, we are going to get the blame the majority of the time, because it’s our bombs.

Signed,

The Anbar Salvation Council.

The news from Anbar has been great, but it’s a reaction against Al Qaeda, not for us. Their killings and bombings, plus the fact that they’re foreigners, turned the locals against them. Their error, which we’re thankfully taking advantage of. Has nothing to do with American over-reliance on firepower aiding the insurgents. Shit, have you read a single reputable book on the war? Or even a decent paper?

That may not be “right,” but it’s reality. The insurgents are the underdog, regardless of how evil their cause often is. We’ve fought in Iraq and Afghanistan about as humanely as possible (given the limitations of our firepower-heavy, manpower-light armed forces), but even that may not be enough in the 21st century.

Am I finally getting through to you Jeffrey?

gdol, remind me again what you saw in the democrats that made you feel they understood “reality?”

Was it their strong stance on national defense? Their commitment to intercepting al qaeda in the U.S.? Their steadfast support of the U.S. fighting soldier?

It seems you talk a lot about reality. However, you vote the adolescents into office.

Strange dichotomy of thinking.

JeffR

Yup, because rewarding the Republicans after an incredibly mismanaged war and laying supine while the Bush Administration trod on our liberties was the right thing to do. I don’t trust either party to run the country or protect it right now. I think that anyone who does is an idiot.

[GDollars37]

[quote]ChuckyT wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:

If the people are not disposed to broadly help the counter-insurgent, the odds that he is going to win are very low.

Is the opposite true, that if people don’t broadly support the insurgent than the odds that he is going to win are very low?[/quote]

Generally, yes, but Iraq’s a bit of an odd case in that the real danger is civil war, not insurgency, these days. Do the Sunni insurgents have broad support nationwide? No way. Do they among Sunnis? Yup.

Same goes for JAM and Badr Brigades, etc., among Shiites.

Also, their task is much easier. To win, we need the support of the American people, the Iraqi people, and the American military. If any of these loses heart and wants to concede the fight, we lose. Our enemies just need to knock out one leg of the tripod.