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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (105844)	7/16/2003 7:25:50 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 281500

"Announcing that there will be a constitution, sometime next year, and an election after that (2005?, 2006?) is a step in the right direction. But will the Iraqi people wait patiently, for years, for us to fulfill our promises about freedom and elections? And, if our soldiers decide we aren't going to win the election, will they (again) postpone them? " Too little too late, probably. But for the Iraqis sake, I hope whatever happens leaves them better off. That, however, is far from certain at this point.

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (105844)	7/16/2003 7:46:04 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

The Iraqis have been mostly content to live in tents, mud houses, and sand for thousands of years. But yet, the younger generations want some of the material things that the world has to offer. One would think that all of the Iraqi citizens would want access to general medical information, and treatments as we have access to here. One would really think that if they really wanted those things, they would not "sit around"....but would rather go about trying to help free their country from the murdering thugs who held in thrall for over 20 years. If the Americans and the coalition of nations leave without leaving a good map for peace in the region, the thugs will return to do their torture, murder, and stealing. Or is it an example of what happens when a group of people have had constant handouts for many many years for power for their 'leaders', and can no longer think for themselves? It took 7 or so years to get America's Constitution and Bill of Rights drafted and then signed. Is there really anyone out there silly enough to think that this can be accomplished in 4 months....? Or even a year? Our soldiers are WONDERFUL, but they aren't miracle workers. We have about 144,000 of them in Iraq, and there are approximately 34 million Iraqis.... The Iraqis must start to help the coalition, or their window of freedom will close. But will the Iraqi people wait patiently, for years, for us to fulfill our promises about freedom and elections?

To: Jacob Snyder who wrote (105844)	7/17/2003 2:11:56 AM
From: Bilow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Hi JS; Re: " The program worked, eliminating the Vietcong from the area. But it was abandoned, because it was too strange for widespread application by our military." Special forces are elite troops. There is no way that you can wave a magic wand and turn a pile of GIs into elite troops. If there was a way, every f'ing Army on the planet would do it, because special forces are far more effective war fighters than regular GIs. It was not possible for the US to use special forces exclusively in Vietnam because it was impossible to recruit enough suitable candidates. In addition, special forces are typically used in places where they can be most effective, and it's doubtful that they can be applied as effectively at other places. This is a standard precept of engineering, the law of diminishing returns. -- Carl P.S. A cool picture of a SF soldier defending the Afghan president: cursor.org