gotterdamerung

If you have any religion this might catch your eye. From the Koran...catch the scripture number. Koran (9:11) - For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced; for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah; and there was peace.

I think hearts and minds is a flawed concept. It has never really proven itself to work. If an agent chooses to align himself with the US he cannot be trusted simply because he is an Arab. If an agent chooses to align himself with the insurgency in theory he should fall off the map because with proper security measures in place he would show up on the radar rather quickly. Unfortunately this is jumping the gun so to speak because Iraq has NEVER ONCE gotten to the level where "security" should be the concern. The concern should be continuing large and small scale military operations bent on capturing all weapons (at this time each Iraqi family can keep an AK-47 for home defense), destroying ruthlessly all pockets of resistance, and continuing to prosecute captured insurgents using methods akin to torture. I know this is not a popular concept right now, but the original concept of torture did not include a bunch of flaky reservists with minimal training taking lewd photographs. I think right now we are engaged in a fruitless enterprise. I for one cannot stand the thought of one more American soldier being killed while jackasses like Bush play politics in an election year. I think by now everyone has made the seperation between the war and the politicians that started it. I think everyone understands that this is serious business and there will be ramifications from here on out for a long time. I think that the peace cause will not gain a foothold because there will not be peace with an ancient people bent on destroying western society for religious reasons. I think that common sense and a common sense of purpose and unity will have to prevail before we can get to a point where we can move forward. Right now the left sees the whole enterprise as motivated by $$$$ and the right sees the left as soft and unworthy of the new order developing. Well maybe they were both right in some ways. It doesn't mean we have to lay down and take it from both sides at the same time. We should not be concerned about the fraudulent concerns of the UN. A completely ineffectual organization bankrolled by the US and indifferent to the plights of the many genocides that have occurred during their watch. We should not be concerned with EU disdain. Rather they should be concerened with us turning our back on them in favor of developing latin America as a main source of trade and industry. They should be concerned that we will take our business home and to Japan and China. If Europe wished to align with Islam then so be it. They deserve one another. Several failing societies in bed together represent no threat to a strong and united US with the proper allies. Iraq? Iraq needs to be taught a lesson on the world stage. Once and for all if the US wants to demonstrate leadership then show the world what we are capable of. This 'play nice' mentality is failing us as always. People are dying as a result.

>>>>At a briefing earlier this month, a high-ranking US officer in charge of the zone's perimeter said he had insufficient soldiers to prevent intruders penetrating the compound's defences. Yes, this is true. If there had remained intact or existed a moderately trained military entity with skills in raid tactics it would have happened already. With the ability to clandestinely swim the Tigris and scale the T-Walls a small element could reasonably kill somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 Americans in the I.Z. with small arms and then possibly even escape. The IZ is porous and there are numerous possibilities for insurgents to penetrate the perimeter. >>>Drives me crazy. Again Mike's input on this is to mind far more interesting than some vague analysis. The deaths do seem to remain localized. Partially this is due to where people live but does that explain all the distribution? Have the insurgent's actions been growing in sophistication? The insurgency has been growing in common sense. You have to realize that head to head they will never be able to beat our troops. They are growing bolder and have been able to observe our movements for a long time. There are only so many roads that can be driven. So for them it is only a matter of a little more planning and opportunity. It's not really rocket science. It's a plan combined with opportunity and advantage. With our troops spread so thin it is an impossible task they are facing. If someone had invaded THIS country all half assed like we invaded Iraq....well...they would ALL be dead by now. So the Iraqi's are nothing special. In fact they suck at everything. I've never seen a more half assed rabble. It's politics and politicians that killed the radio star in this case. When we shot the shit out of them on a daily basis and treated them like dung they kissed our asses and nothing much happened. When we started pretending like the war was over and let's be buddies...well you see what happened. It just doesn't work this way America...war is war....war is killing...war is brutality....war is children dying...war is women dying...war is sure as hell is killing the enemy and making him wish he's never even been born. American's don't get it. They don't want to get it. They wanna watch MTV and spray on Cascadeclimbers and act like climbing Castle Rock gives you some corner on the market of having big balls. There is a way in which to defeat insurgency, but the people dusting the white house seats with their asses will never understand or have the stomach for getting the job done. Like it's been said from everyone from Bremer on down. Saddam knew how to rule Iraq. With an iron fist and brutality. Iraq was never ripe for democracy. They are a bunch of third world monkey's who should be subjugated under an imperial banner. If you want to win in Iraq take off the blindfold or turn a blind eye at least. Quit acting like war can be sanitary and efficient. Let it be what it is...what is always was. If you don't have a stomach for Pinkville stay out of the business of fighting America.

Dru, you've been reading a lot lately I've noticed. Read "The 5 rings" by Mushashi.

I pay my taxes in blood and sweat.

Glad I'm not one of those guys. I just hate liberals cause all they do is whine and never contribute SHIT. Even when they should. Pay your taxes

That's because they dropped their signs and started targeting you instead. Liberal fluff muffin.

Sure I can. More shit from the liberals. It's just shit digested differently than the way the NeoCons digest shit. Anyway you look at it...it's shit.

Liberal dick suckers.

Ummm right...

This is what happens at those parties they put together. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/images/dap6.jpg

Must have gotten yanked before I got to read it fool. Send me a PM asswipe.

Oh here's Arlen with his wit and wisdom as usual. Too cool for everyone. Hey Arlen you shoulda seen the post the mods pulled the other day. It was pretty much me calling you a fucking tool.

Cows

Maybe you all should quit taking this site so seriously and learn to live with the fact that some of us have been trolling you for years. You'll never be able to keep up with it. I go out of my way to try to behave here.

That's GD's term 'hyped up mystique'. Cman and I agree on many issues.

Personally I think there are some people beating their own drums on this thread. I say build more trails and gondolas (like one to the top of Snoqualmie mountain so I can yo-yo ski the slot). The concept of isolation in wilderness is funny. Walk the PCT for a couple of hundred miles. I guarantee you won't see anybody for days and days and that's a MAJOR TRAIL SYSTEM getting you to where you want to go.

I think there are a lot more users around these days then when John Roper was growing up. It's an unfortunate fact. I say just build a good trail and let people trample it down. I am not sure why certain areas have to have such a lame mystique about them. With enough effort you can get anywhere in the Cascades just like you can get anywhere in any mountain range. Build a damned trail. Then let mountain bikes on it too.

AHEM...So does anyone have any info on the conditions of this face?

Yes, I am ready to cast the vote and send the man packing.

GD's last official post as this entity will be to proclaim that I have decided to vote for John Kerry. Bush is too much of a total knob to represent the USA. I don't believe he has the countries best interests in mind, I believe that he has lied, and I believe that he and his cronies will lead the US into a larger war with little or no gain for the American people. Might as well let someone else try. Don't expect me to become a bleeding heart liberal however. I'll still be killing Arabs while you're debating the shit you eat. Liberal pussies. ZDFG

I agree about pulling out. Then we could carpet bomb the place into tiny atoms.

Shinseki is your man: "Earlier this year, Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki told a congressional panel that postwar Iraq would require hundreds of thousands of US troops for an extended period -- an analysis Rumsfeld quickly called ''far off the mark.''" I believe Shelton and Cohen were vehement about denouncing the force structure prior to the war http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2003/030331-warplan02.htm

This was a unit assigned to provide PSD/convoy protection in the Ramadi/Fallujah area. They were from the same unit that had 4 members killed in the April Fallujah incident, and their bodies mutilated and strung from a bridge.