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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (219343)	9/11/2007 6:03:13 AM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793866

No, instead of political leadership, we dawdled, until the Army and Marines, most under duress from this sad mismanagement, brewed up their own answer and pursued it--the surge strategy And if Bush had been trying to micro-manage the war from Washington, what would Barnett be saying now? His snark is getting on my nerves.

To: LindyBill who wrote (219343)	9/11/2007 6:50:09 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793866

I don't always agree with Barnett. But I do believe he is on target there. I would add something I wrote a few weeks ago. - Victory in Iraq will occur when the Iraqi people acknowledge the legitimacy of their elected government. Victory in Iraq will be obvious when the Iraqi people stop supporting the insurgents and take active measures to eliminate them. At best the surge is merely a temporary solution to a long term problem. What comes after the surge will be determinant. Actions after the surge will be the keystone if the victory described above is achieved, and OUR military will have little to do with those subsequent actions. Unfortunately, as long as we remain focused on the conventional military piece, the real and only victory available will continue to elude us. Our entire government needs a class on thinking outside the box. But to know they are thinking outside the box, they will first need a lesson on how to determine what is inside the box. I would also add that I heard Petreaus comments yesterday stating his and Iraqi provincial leaders views on the importance of the Special Forces teams. He went on to state that the SF Team is the only presence in some provinces and it is a very important presence. I continue to maintain the position that if we put one more Special Forces Group (54 A Teams) in Iraq, we could bring 100,000 US Troops home beginning immeadiately and bring another 30,000 home next year. But Petreaus is just beginning to learn about and comprehend the synergy of one ODA. His training will not allow him to get so far out of the conventional military box to put together such a solution.