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| Iraq |
| CJCS: Message of Iraq Progress Stymied |
| 2005-12-02 |
| If the American public has a distorted picture of the combat readiness of Iraqi troops, the U.S. military is largely to blame for it, the most senior American military officer said Thursday. "We have done ourselves a disservice in the way that we have defined how we are tracking the progress of Iraqi forces," Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience of military and civilian students at the National Defense University... Pace's point was that even though only one Iraqi battalion is rated at "level one," there are nearly 40 rated at "level two," which is defined as capable of taking a lead role in fighting the insurgency with some degree of U.S. support. About 80 others battalions at rated at "level three," meaning that are capable of fighting, but with U.S. troops in the lead. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #3 To: Flose Griper1843 re: Naval Infantry Thank gosh Truman ain't president. :D Actually, I heard that it was because the Navy does in fact need a "police force" -- there was an incident where one ship's crew asked the Marines and even the Army to do shipboard security, only for both to be called away. Fortunately, these new naval infantry (I've heard that they're a semi-speical forces/Marine hynrid called Expeditionary Combat Battalions) should be comprised of almost-SEALs... |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2005-12-02 14:50 |
| #2 "For your information the Marine Corps is the Navy's police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's." -President Harry S. Truman, 1950 Perhaps that is why Pace is CJCS and the USN is starting to train Naval Infantry. |
| Posted by: Flose Griper1843 2005-12-02 13:46 |
| #1 The military has been saddled with the Vietnam-era image of overselling its success and underplaying its failure so today it overcompensates by whispering its explanations so the journalists who cover the Pentagon won't get upset at them. Unfortunately, this tactic basically concedes the battlefield to its enemies, the MSM. Time to emulate the CINC and stop turning the other cheek. |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2005-12-02 13:40 |