Are we fighting the wars effectively in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[Autumnleaf]

For those of you who work there, what do you think? I've heard we're not, thats why I ask. As a veteran, and concerned voter, it would anger me to think the military is being misused.

 

[Autumnleaf]

I guess everyone is happy with the way things are going. Silence equals consent.

 

[briareos]

As former Gen Petraeus (ret) said to Congress and I believe Hillary Clinton... everyone has an opinion about it. Your not going to receive an ANSWER to the concern, you'll just get an opinion.

My opinion is that it is being accomplished, Iraq is almost finished and Afghanistan will eventually be too. The evident changes in Iraq and it's culture display accomplishment and I believe it will be so for Afghanistan too if we stick it out.

Thats MHO

 

[Sun Wukong]

For those of you who work there, what do you think? I've heard we're not, thats why I ask. As a veteran, and concerned voter, it would anger me to think the military is being misused.

You cannot successfully fight a counter insurgency without winning the hearts and minds of the people. You don't win the hearts and minds of the people by carpet bombing down town Baghdad with millions of dollars worth of missiles.

A massive one off show of force, say by having Baghdad disappear under a mushroom cloud and the ensuing terror it would have struck into the population would have been far more effective than carpet bombing the place and giving the survivors something to use as a rallying cry for their insurgency.

The US made the fatal mistake off assuming that they would be welcomed as liberators and didn't initially invade with sufficient troops to successfully occupy and control the country. As a result large quantities of military hardware up and vanished during and after the invasion, making the insurgents far better armed then they should have been.

The US failed because they did not have the political will to go in there with a quarter of a million men or pursue a nuclear option and not only defeat the Iraqi army but also successfully control the remaining military assets.

The insurgents don't have to defeat the US military in the field, they simply have to be patient and wait for them to leave. Vietnam is a prime example of this.

Let's not forget that bringing democracy to Iraq was the third reason the public was fed for the invasion. The first two being their involvement in the September 11 attacks and the second being WMD's, both of which proved to be false. The whole democracy angle is simply justification for the illegal occupation of Iraq by the US.

As for Afghanistan, no one has every won in that part of the world. Period. The threat of violence and death is meaningless to a people who know nothing but hardship and believe they will be rewarded in the next life for dying in the struggle against their enemies. The US and their allies simply should have bought the opium themselves in exchange for political leverage and the handing over of persons of interest.

You cannot force western democracy and civilization on people.