Hello Walkinshadow, good post. I think you're right in that we're mostly in agreement.
Opinions are fine, lord knows I've shared many of my own on these boards.
I suppose where I think we might part ways is in the way we remember history. At least the Gulf War in particular. The bombing campaign in the gulf war did far more to destabilize the Iraqi fighters then I think you give it credit for. The Iraqi's were so worn down from the bombing that most of them were happy to have someone come and get them. Tens of thousands just gave up without a fight. They were starving, and just plain sick of being bombed day after day, week after week. The ground offensive, in many areas, wasn't really a ground offensive as much as it was a mopping up exercise.
I do believe conducting a ground offensive will be necessary at some point in the future in Afghanistan. I never intended to infer otherwise. My point was why start it early rather then later? Time is on our side. The more we wear the Taliban down with bombs, the less likely we will take large casualties.
The other thing to keep in minds is this is basically the same team at the helm which conducted the last war in the gulf. Cheney, and Powell have been tried and tested before. They are seasoned professionals in this arena, and should be given far more latitide then your average joe-blow politician. They laid the doubters to rest nearly a decade ago in one of the most successful efforts to remove an army from a country in the history of modern warfare. Military strategists always thought you needed a force 3-5 times larger then the occupying one in order to win decisively. The Gulf War, with its sophisticated multi-dimensional bombing campaign, changed that strategic thinking forever.
Technology does matter a great deal when it's the right technology, used in the right way. Rifles, tanks, planes, missiles, and now surgical bombs are continuously altering the way armies battle eachother. And I think many people overlook the effects these weapons have on the way wars are fought. This isn't Vietnam. Our army is entirely different today. They are well trained, well motivated, with advanced equipment and solid leadership.
In summary, I suppose what I'm trying to say is this...I see no reason to send thousands of troops across the mountains of Afghanistan rooting into caves potentially stepping on booby traps hoping to find bin laden just yet.
And I see no good reason to rush into it when we can steadily tear them up with our surgical bombs... |
