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2008-01-09 -Lurid Crime Tales-

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Posted by Mike 2008-01-09 17:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top

#1 brits should be hanging their heads in shame after Basra (IMO)

Posted by sinse 2008-01-09 17:33|| 2008-01-09 17:33|| Front Page Top

#2 This dispatch is mostly about pre-ordering copies of his book, which seems like a pretty good idea.

Posted by Iblis 2008-01-09 18:49|| 2008-01-09 18:49|| Front Page Top

#3 I don't think these friendly relations will be busted up so easily, even with a Democrat president in the WH. This is because our military leaders still snarl at the memory of the US betrayal of the ARVN.

So from the get-go, and frequently thereafter, they enlightened their Iraqi counterparts as to the fickle nature of US politics. This was a warning that, with very little notice, the US military might have to pack up and go, so the Iraqis *have* to be ready to take over at any time.

Forewarned is forearmed. For at least two years now, the Iraqi army has been able and ready to take over. On the day when we knew that they could, without disaster, take over, everybody, both US military and Iraqi military, breathed a sigh of relief.

Everything beyond that is icing on the cake. The Iraqis have a shopping list of everything they need to become and remain a world-class military. They have been run through endless training exercises, battalion, brigade, and even division sized operations.

They have military schools for enlisted, NCOs, officers, senior and general officers, and branch specialties, all run by Iraqis but on the US models. They are one of the few armies in the world that takes maintenance and logistics as seriously as it should.

Probably their biggest problem right now is paperwork, bureaucracy, and interacting with the civilian government. And like the Turkish army, the Iraqi government knows that if it tries to undermine or cheat the Iraqi military, it could very well take over the country. And ironically, run it as the most honest Arab nation ever.

The bottom line is that the US has created an almost living being in the Iraqi military, one unique to the middle east. And the implications of our having done so will impact the entire region for a hundred years or more.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-01-09 19:01|| 2008-01-09 19:01|| Front Page Top

#4 THe Iraqis still have not even come close in Logistics and Maint. Thats going to take a few years. But they are quick students in terms of operations at the battalion level and below, and in some areas they are actually able to operate cohesively at a brigade and division scale operation.

Ya know what? If things continue, in about 3 years the Iraqis are going to scare the dogshit out of the Iranians - quality and quantity, schoole din the American ways of operational art, and finally having mastered logistics.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-01-09 21:07|| 2008-01-09 21:07|| Front Page Top

23:47 trailing wife
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