What is the strategy for Winning the Iraq war?

[eilute]

What is the underlying strategy for winning the Iraq war? Does the military have a plan to ultimately crush the insurgency? Do they have a plan to establish a strong Iraqi security force?

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Wishful thinking . . . the same thing that got us into Bush War 2003.

 

[arsbanned]

Why, President Bush will win the war by using his "darn good intelligence" of course. :disgust:

 

[TRUMPHENT]

There was no plan for following the demise and destruction of the Iraqi military and the ousting of the Baathist regime. No one at the Pentagon wanted to be bothered with the less than glorious occupation planning.

Here's a good read from the "New Yorker" about Iraq following the invasion
The War after the War

It describes the beginnings of the insurgency that wasn't supposed to happen.

There hasn't been a viable plan to crush the insurgency since there are not enough troops to properly occupy the country. Iraq has to date, one battalion that is certified to be good enough to operate independent of US support. You would have expected at least one other battalion to come up to standards by now. There is no plan.

 

[EatSpam]

More no-bid contracts for Haliburton.
Return Iraqi oil to full production and privatize it as a subsidiary of a major American oil company that's best connected to Dick Cheney.
Ensure that the "new" Iraq will never speak ill of, let alone threaten, Israel.

 

[irwincur]

The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

Either the people here have little common sense or you could not plan a trip to the local bank. The plan is simple. The heart of the plan is to keep it simple. It is also key not to tell it to the historically leaky Senate (Dems tend to sell their info to the highest bidder).

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

 

[Darkhawk28]

Originally posted by: irwincur
The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

{Irwincur's usual stupidity snipped}

So far, we have one battalion ready to stand on its own. Just one. We need over 100. So, we'll be there for the next 300 years with your plan. Nice job!

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: Darkhawk28

Originally posted by: irwincur
The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

{Irwincur's usual stupidity snipped}

So far, we have one battalion ready to stand on its own. Just one. We need over 100. So, we'll be there for the next 300 years with your plan. Nice job!

Your problem is that you lack faith! George W. Bush WILL prevail... he was chosen by Gawd.

 

[PELarson]

Originally posted by: eilute
What is the underlying strategy for winning the Iraq war? Does the military have a plan to ultimately crush the insurgency? Do they have a plan to establish a strong Iraqi security force?

You actually mean winning the peace. The war was won, we are now due to the failings of the Bush administration losing the peace.

The military's job, which they did quite well, was to pull the floor out from under the Iraqi's. The Bush administration's job, which they are failing at, was to replace that floor as quickly and with as few people noticing as possible.

 

[PELarson]

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: Darkhawk28

Originally posted by: irwincur
The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

{Irwincur's usual stupidity snipped}

So far, we have one battalion ready to stand on its own. Just one. We need over 100. So, we'll be there for the next 300 years with your plan. Nice job!

Your problem is that you lack faith! George W. Bush WILL prevail... he was chosen by Gawd.

Ummmm... no according to popular belief he is god(lower case).

 

[Moonbeam]

The plan is for Bush to try to cover up his stupendous blunder by killing enough American troops as to cause the Americans people to demand the troops be withdrawn. At this point we will cut and run and add Iraq to Viet Nam as the second American loss caused by Democrats and Liberals. In this way the shame and ignominy of the stupendous blunder will be transfered to real Americans by the lunatic Neocon warmongers. The withdrawal and talk of withdrawal will, however, be begin at Republican direction just before the next election. Republicans have learned that their base is sufficiently insane as to never notice that they will credit Republicans with a planned with drawl while blaming the loss that withdrawal implies on Democrats just as they blame Hippies and Berkeley for the loss in Viet Nam but it was Kissinger and Nixon that withdrew. No irrational insanity is too much for the Right to bare. But why would there be. To see oneself as one really is is to puke. Why would an egotist want to do that? Much better that others die than that I awaken. I am just that important.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: PELarson

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: Darkhawk28

Originally posted by: irwincur
The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

{Irwincur's usual stupidity snipped}

So far, we have one battalion ready to stand on its own. Just one. We need over 100. So, we'll be there for the next 300 years with your plan. Nice job!

Your problem is that you lack faith! George W. Bush WILL prevail... he was chosen by Gawd.

Ummmm... no according to popular belief he is god(lower case).

I stand corrected!

 

[arsbanned]

Originally posted by: irwincur
The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

Either the people here have little common sense or you could not plan a trip to the local bank. The plan is simple. The heart of the plan is to keep it simple. It is also key not to tell it to the historically leaky Senate (Dems tend to sell their info to the highest bidder).

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

"The heart if the plan is to keep it simple"
ROFLMAO! Yeah, so simple it doesn't exist! LOL.
Suggesting Congress has no authority in war planning is patently absurd. Republicans are the ones selling info the the Iranians through their boy Chalabi! Glass houses and all that, son.
Bush was AWOL from his country club Air Guard unit, how much could he possibly know!? I think the answer to that is quite obvious, given the FAILURE in Iraq.

 

[Jhhnn]

The plan? Exploit the divisions in Iraqi society, to keep them at each other's throats, and to maximize the violence, minimize any actual rebuilding. They're already well armed, thanks to the wide open military hardware stockpiles conveniently made available during the early phase of the occupation... and bitter, too, since they've all been thrown out of work by disbanding the entire govt structure, replacing it with.. promises...

Arm Shiite factions under the guise of the interior ministry, have them implement the "Salvadoran option" of torture and murder, just to keep things nicely riled up... Just because it didn't work in El Salvador doesn't matter...

All of which means the troops have to stay, so that the military industrial guys can keep sucking on the US treasury, not to mention the blood of the Iraqis....

Meanwhile, Cheney and Chalabi yuk it up, pat each other on the back, divvy up the billions being directed to their friends...

When the domestic political pressure gets too great, they'll just declare victory and leave... and it will be a victory for those who got fat off of it...

 

[Spamela]

since we're at the mercy of events, the
strategy is formally called "hope everything goes right."

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: TRUMPHENT
There was no plan for following the demise and destruction of the Iraqi military and the ousting of the Baathist regime. No one at the Pentagon wanted to be bothered with the less than glorious occupation planning.

Here's a good read from the "New Yorker" about Iraq following the invasion
The War after the War

It describes the beginnings of the insurgency that wasn't supposed to happen.

There hasn't been a viable plan to crush the insurgency since there are not enough troops to properly occupy the country. Iraq has to date, one battalion that is certified to be good enough to operate independent of US support. You would have expected at least one other battalion to come up to standards by now. There is no plan.

Actually, that's not true. It's pretty well documented that LOTS of military leaders and experts, at the Pentagon, Army War College, and other places, did a lot of planning about how to win the occupation. The problem is that, for some reason, the administration decided to ignore everything being said by the experts.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: irwincur
The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

Either the people here have little common sense or you could not plan a trip to the local bank. The plan is simple. The heart of the plan is to keep it simple. It is also key not to tell it to the historically leaky Senate (Dems tend to sell their info to the highest bidder).

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

That isn't a plan. It is a broad description of what is going to happen before we leave, but it doesn't mention anything about how we bring those things about. It simply glosses over the most important aspect...getting the Iraqi government "in place". This means more than holding elections, the government needs to have the support of all Iraqis and have the ability to defend the majority against the remains of the insurgency. I'll admit that the first seems to be slowly happening, but as far as I can tell, NO progress has been made in the latter catagory. And nobody has said anything about how to fix that.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Originally posted by: irwincur
The plan is simple. Fight a low level conflict until the Iraqi government is in place. At this point, American troops will re-locate to bases outside of the major cities. At this point in the conflict the US is at a adelicate position. We need to provide as much defense as possible while at the same time allowing the Iraqi people and government the most freedom to make their own decisions.

Either the people here have little common sense or you could not plan a trip to the local bank. The plan is simple. The heart of the plan is to keep it simple. It is also key not to tell it to the historically leaky Senate (Dems tend to sell their info to the highest bidder).

If I was creating the plan for war I would never tell Congress. As a matter of fact it is none of their business and hardly in their line of work.

Then you would promptly be impeached for violating your oath of office to uphold the Constitution.

 

[maddogchen]

Go on vacation in Texas and hope everything is resolved when you come back.

 

[tommywishbone]

Install Chalabi as Viceroy of Iraq. Complete the BB & B (Sr., Jr., & Jeb) TransIraqi pipeline. Rename Bagdad, Richdad. Build giant 'slant-drilling' rig extending into Iran and steal all of their oil (just like Mr. Burns did, in that episode of The Simpsons) so they can't afford to build a nuclear reactor.

Edit: I almost forgot; call the navy and find out what happened to that 'Mission Accomplished' banner, get it back and unroll it and display it over Chenney's Mansion.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: tommywishbone
Install Chalabi as Viceroy of Iraq. Complete the BB & B (Sr., Jr., & Jeb) TransIraqi pipeline. Rename Bagdad, Richdad. Build giant 'slant-drilling' rig extending into Iran and steal all of their oil (just like Mr. Burns did, in that episode of The Simpsons) so they can't afford to build a nuclear reactor.

Edit: I almost forgot; call the navy and find out what happened to that 'Mission Accomplished' banner, get it back and unroll it and display it over Chenney's Mansion.

Wasn't at least the Chalabi part actually part of the plan? That seems, well, stupid knowing what we know about that loser...but that WAS the plan as far as I'm aware.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Maybe Bush's trip to China will open a doorway for Halliburto to outsource the entire operation.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
The problem is that, for some reason, the administration decided to ignore everything being said by the experts.

This is an ongoing theme with the Bush While House. They ignore experts.

Ideology trumps knowledge every time.

 

[shira]

You'll notice that one thing the Bush adminstration will NEVER do is provide a detailed description of the conditions that must be in place in Iraq for us to declare victory and withdraw.

This is not the same thing as a timetable, which might well play into the insurgents' hands. Yet the Bushies won't say what the phrase "a free and stable Iraq" means.

The reason, of course, is that the Bushies ARE going to cut and run (whether partially or completely) at some point, and they want the freedom to be able to arbitrarily label Iraq "free and stable" at the time of their choosing.

Prediction: Our withdrawal will be timed to provide maximum benefit to the Republicans in the 2008 elections.

 

[Legend]

Create a strong Iraqi military and leave in good relations with the current Iraq government.