RE: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,143977,00.html

"If it looks bad, we just blow it up," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of Task Force Marne, which is spearheading the two operations.

Sounds good to me! I say blow the whole sandbox into a glass parking lot.

Nothing but negative thoughts in my head on this one. Were sitting ducks out there.

quote:

Originally posted by 13217378:
Nothing but negative thoughts in my head on this one. Were sitting ducks out the
re.

Think positive, Corporal. Negative thoughts only get you killed. Two things to remember: 1) The best defense is a good offense; 2) The glass is half-full, not half-empty.

God bless.

quote:

Sounds good to me! I say blow the whole sandbox into a glass parking lot.

Worked for our hallowed Christian, democratic forefathers against the savage terrorists of North America.
We'll teach Iraqis what democracy is all about until they form a moderate Muslin government as our allies the of Saudi, Pakistan, Egypt, and Jordan.

TIME TO DISENGAGE !

They have the will and perseverence to continue indefinitely. Why sacrifice American soldiers and dollars ? Let them wear themselves down until another Sadaam rises to calm the mess. That is why we put Sadaam in charge in the first place. He surely ran a tight ship............we didn't lose an American soldier.

quote:

Originally posted by AmericanEagle:

quote:

Originally posted by 13217378:
Nothing but negative thoughts in my head on this one. Were sitting ducks out the
re.

Think positive, Corporal. Negative thoughts only get you killed. Two things to remember: 1) The best defense is a good offense; 2) The glass is half-full, not half-empty.

God bless.

yea good advise....

quote:

Originally posted by helez:
TIME TO DISENGAGE !

They have the will and perseverence to continue indefinitely. Why sacrifice American soldiers and dollars ? Let them wear themselves down until another Sadaam rises to calm the mess. That is why we put Sadaam in charge in the first place. He surely ran a tight ship............we didn't lose an American soldier.

because it is the job of all free nations to free people who live under oppression....

"Good, GOD, that kind of stuff, now?"

Since the insurgents are reluctant to detonate large buried explosive devices against foot patrols perhaps it is time to employ experienced dowsers to locate the devices.

quote:

Originally posted by helez:
TIME TO DISENGAGE !

They have the will and perseverence to continue indefinitely. Why sacrifice American soldiers and dollars ? Let them wear themselves down until another Sadaam rises to calm the mess. That is why we put Sadaam in charge in the first place. He surely ran a tight ship............we didn't lose an American soldier.

If by we, you mean the U.S., that is incorrect .

Rise to power
Army officers with ties to the Ba'ath Party overthrew Qassim in a coup in 1963. Ba'athist leaders were appointed to the cabinet and Abdul Salam Arif became president. Arif dismissed and arrested the Ba'athist leaders later that year. Saddam returned to Iraq, but was imprisoned in 1964. Just prior to his imprisonment and until 1968, Saddam held the position of Ba'ath party secretary.[11] He escaped prison in 1967 and quickly became a leading member of the party. In 1968, Saddam participated in a bloodless coup led by Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr that overthrew Abdul Rahman Arif. Al-Bakr was named president, and Saddam was named his deputy and deputy chairman of the Baathist Revolutionary Command Council. According to biographers, Saddam never forgot the tensions within the first Ba'athist government, which formed the basis for his measures to promote Ba'ath party unity as well as his resolve to maintain power and programs to ensure social stability.

Although Saddam was al-Bakr's deputy, he was a strong behind-the-scenes party politician. Al-Bakr was the older and more prestigious of the two, but by 1969 Saddam Hussein clearly had become the moving force behind the party.

Succession
In 1976, Saddam rose to the position of general in the Iraqi armed forces, and rapidly became the strongman of the government. As the weak, elderly al-Bakr became unable to execute his duties, Saddam took on an increasingly prominent role as the face of the government both internally and externally. He soon became the architect of Iraq's foreign policy and represented the nation in all diplomatic situations. He was the de-facto leader of Iraq some years before he formally came to power in 1979. He slowly began to consolidate his power over Iraq's government and the Ba'ath party. Relationships with fellow party members were carefully cultivated, and Saddam soon accumulated a powerful circle of support within the party.

In 1979 al-Bakr started to make treaties with Syria, also under Ba'athist leadership, that would lead to unification between the two countries. Syrian President Hafez al-Assad would become deputy leader in a union, and this would drive Saddam to obscurity. Saddam acted to secure his grip on power. He forced the ailing al-Bakr to resign on July 16, 1979, and formally assumed the presidency.

Shortly afterwards, he convened an assembly of Ba'ath party leaders on July 22, 1979. During the assembly, which he ordered videotaped, Saddam claimed to have found spies and conspirators within the Ba'ath Party and read out the names of 68 members that he alleged to be such fifth columnists. These members were labeled "disloyal" and were removed from the room one by one and taken into custody. After the list was read, Saddam congratulated those still seated in the room for their past and future loyalty. The 68 people arrested at the meeting were subsequently put on trial, and 22 were sentenced to execution for treason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein

Resignation
On July 16, 1979 the 65-year-old Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr stepped down, ostensibly on health grounds, and Saddam Hussein assumed the presidency in a move that was widely regarded as little more than a formality. It is commonly believed, based on accounts of witnesses, that Saddam forced the president to step down under threat of being removed by force. Shortly thereafter, Saddam executed several top members of the Ba'ath party under claim of espionage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Hassan_al-Bakr

quote:

Originally posted by darrylneakok:
"Good, GOD, that kind of stuff, now?"

Well, while it may be that interdicting munitions supplies from other countries may be having an effect, there were large but still finite amounts looted from the hundred of ammo dumps Saddam had all over the country, and it is equally possible that they are running out of what got buried in basements.

quote:

Originally posted by outlaws93:
because it is the job of all free nations to free people who live under oppression....

You are wrong outlaws93. No nation has a duty to meddle in the affairs of another country. What you prescribe is very, very close to the argument Hitler used to invade Checkoslovakia and destabilize Europe.

The US invaision has destabilized the mideast to the point that war will be waged there for many years.

Also we have, by our unilateral aggressive war policy, destabilized the world balance to the point that renewed confrontation with Russia has become a reality.

American foreign policy needs to be revised and our troops removed from Iraq now.

quote:

Originally posted by oldmole:

quote:

Originally posted by darrylneakok:
"Good, GOD, that kind of stuff, now?"

Well, while it may be that interdicting munitions supplies from other countries may be having an effect, there were large but still finite amounts looted from the hundred of ammo dumps Saddam had all over the country, and it is equally possible that they are running out of what got buried in basements.

We have a winner!
Not only are we interditing resupply, we have siezed several large caches of actual military munitions. Now uncle Abdul has to break out his home chemistry set to make bombs. Not only are these explosives generally less powerful, but they are much more dangerous for uncle Abdul.

HELEZ, ARE YOU SAYING THAT IF YOU SAW A 250 POUND FOOTBALL PLAYER BEATING UP A 5 YEAR OLD CHILD YOU WOULD STAND BY AND DO NOTHING.

quote:

Originally posted by OFANDFORTHETROOPS:
RE: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,143977,00.html

"If it looks bad, we just blow it up," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of Task Force Marne, which is spearheading the two operations.

Sounds good to me! I say blow the whole sandbox into a glass parking lot.

We could make it the 8th wonder of the world... bet it would be a pretty cool lookin' glass sculpture!

God blessed the niave with the ability to ignore reality. The reality in Iraq, a reality that was predicted by military leaders who planned for a mission there in 1998, is civil war. Of course George Bush and those in Congress who gave him the authority to begin a prolonged conflict there in late 2003 are to blame to for creating the conditions that resulted in this mess, but it is the average American military member who pays the price along with their families. And let's not forget the several million Iraqis forced to live in fear, as they attempt to survive day to day warfare in their streets.

Iraq is not better off today. The presence of these munitions and the desire to improvise, despite the danger involved, shows a clear resolve by Iraqi insurgents and foriegn fighters, opposed to a U.S. friendly Iraqi government, to fight on. This resolve has not been defeated, as the lame talk radio hosts and overzealous Iraq War supporters demanded they would. Instead, it remains and appears to be infecting similar types in neighboring nations, ie. Lebanon, Pakistan, and Palestine.

The macho men will continue to claim to know better. They will do so until the day that every Iraqi child and American family has paid the ultimate price. Still, reality will not change to suit their wishful thinking.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TinyTerror,

quote:

Originally posted by saw424:
HELEZ, ARE YOU SAYING THAT IF YOU SAW A 250 POUND FOOTBALL PLAYER BEATING UP A 5 YEAR OLD CHILD YOU WOULD STAND BY AND DO NOTHING.

Looks to me that is his interpretation of what is going on, and why he is speaking up ... even though it is a different football player, it is the same child.

quote:

Originally posted by oldmole:

quote:

Originally posted by saw424:
HELEZ, ARE YOU SAYING THAT IF YOU SAW A 250 POUND FOOTBALL PLAYER BEATING UP A 5 YEAR OLD CHILD YOU WOULD STAND BY AND DO NOTHING.

Looks to me that is his interpretation of what is going on, and why he is speaking up ... even though it is a different football player, it is the same child.

A similar analogy has been made to the US and Iraq. We with a population of 330 million and Iraq with a population of 26 million, and both with military structures comparable to their size, faced off in March of 2003 and, were that all there was too war, Iraq would have been crushed as Saddam's regime was. In fact, this obvious difference in strength is likely what caused so many to dismiss the studied recommendation to begin combat operations in Iraq with a force of at least 400 thousand. So being the only superpower in the world we could easily topple Saddam's government, and yet not be agile enough to prevent the civil war to follow.

I SAID LET S MOVE ALL THE TROOPS AND LET THE IRAQI AND INSURGENTS FIGHT THEMSELVES THIS IS NOT OUR WAR THIS IS BETWEEN THEM. THIS TO MUCH FOR OUR TROOPS AND THE INSURGENTS ARE GROWING MORE AND MORE WE HAVE TO PUT END OFF THIS.

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