Military Chiefs: Post-War Plan Lacking
United Press International
November 18, 2004

ONE DID NOT HAVE TO BE WATCHING CSPAN IN ORDER TO SEE THE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS SADLY DOING THE "TELL US SOMETHING WE DON'T ALREADY KNOW" HEAD SHAKE, AND THE REPUBLICANS TRYING BEST THEY CAN TO "ACT SURPRISED." DUH!

WASHINGTON - The Bush Administration did not adequately prepare for the post-war period in Iraq, the nation's top military officers told Congress Wednesday.

The four chiefs of the armed services testified to the House Armed Services Committee that while they had adequately planned for combat operations, as evidenced by the quick advance to Baghdad, the U.S. government as a whole failed to put enough effort into planning for the peace.

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT THESE GUYS ARE DOING = WHAT MOST OF THE REST OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S CABINET'S DOING WHO HAS ANY SENSE (WE KNOW RICE DOESN'T HAVE ANY) = JUMPING A SINKING SWIFT BOAT BEFORE IRAQ DRAGS THEM DOWN WITH BUSH. THESE "YES SIR WHAT EVER," GENERALS AND ADMIRALS ARE ABOUT TO RETIRE OR RUMSFELD AND BUSH WOULD HAVE THEIR JOBS. THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION DIDN'T ADEQUATELY PLAN FOR THE POST-WAR PERIOD IN IRAQ. ARE THEY SERIOUS? :o THEY BETTER RETIRE OR THEY'LL END UP COMMANDING UNITS IN IRAQ!

The military role is limited, or should be limited, in post-combat periods to security operations, they said. The lion's share of reconstruction and nation building should have been taken up by other agencies in the government.

LET US TAKE A WILD EDUMACATED GUESS = THE STATE DEPARTMENT - RIGHT? OH PLEASE, NOW YOU WANT TO HAND OVER THE RECONSTRUCTION OF IRAQ TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT WITH CONDIE RICE AT THE HELM. AH SO! IS THAT WHERE THIS IS HEADING. SHE OPENS THE DOOR FOR TRICKY DICK CHENEY TO AGAIN SLIP HALLIBURTON OR SOME OTHER CROOKS BACK INTO IRAQ TO MAKE BIG BUCKS FOR THE BUSH MOB.

"If I had to go back and do it again, I would spend a great deal more time thinking about phase four; in other words, the stability, security, reconstruction part of that," said Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Michael Hagee.

IF YOU HAD TO GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN = RIGHT = COMMANDANT HOW MANY MARINES WOULD STILL BE ALIVE TODAY, SIR?

"And of course, the U.S. military only plays a certain portion of that -- more the security portion of that than the other portion of that. But the integration of all elements of national power during the so-called phase four operations, if I had to do it again, I would put much more emphasis in that particular area so that we were better prepared for that."

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker agreed.

"I think the commandant's hit the nail on the head there," he said.

"As we know, this is a war of ideas, it's a test of wills... it has so many more components to it, and quite frankly, this is a job that is bigger than the Department of Defense."

I'LL BE A SON OF A BITCH. THEY HAVE LOST WELL OVER 1,000 YOUNG AMERICANS AND ALL THESE CLOWNS CAN SAY IS, "THIS IS A JOB THAT IS BIGGER THAN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE."



While the tenuous security situation in Iraq gets the most international attention, U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Iraq report that security can not be separated out from the lack of basic services like sewage, water and electricity, the slow pace of self-governance, and the still stagnant economy. Each factor influences the other -- there can be no security until basic needs are met, basic needs won't be met until the economy is jump started, and the economy can not take off until people can safely go to work and school, and accept jobs and money from coalition forces without fearing for their lives.

Aligning those aspects of Iraq reconstruction is not an inherently military job but much of the responsibility for it has fallen into the military's collective lap, in part because it is the only U.S. institution with a presence in much of the country, and the personnel to implement reconstruction projects.

Moreover, the record of U.S. civilian agencies' reconstruction projects in Iraq is checkered. While progress has been made fitfully in various sectors, less than $2 billion of the $18 billion earmarked for Iraq reconstruction a year ago has been spent.

A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C, charts five major indicators of progress in Iraq and shows that all are in the "danger zone," with the availability of health care actually declining over the last six months.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper said the problem "calls for an interagency, deliberate planning process much like the deliberate planning process we have in the military, where formal assignments are made within the interagency to get upfront commitment to what the post-major combat operations requirements will be."

The post-war period in Iraq -- which has been 10 times more deadly for U.S. forces than the war was -- is not going to be "won" with bullets, Schoomaker told Congress. It will be won by convincing Iraqis that their best interests lie in working hand-in-hand with U.S. forces to build a stable country.

"This ultimately is not going to be won in the kinetic sense, in the battle. This is going to be won by Iraqis investing their own personal sweat and blood in the solution," Schoomaker said.

THUS WITH THE 2004 ELECTION OUT OF THE WAY IT'S NOW SAFE TO "ADMIT" THEY SCREWED UP IN IRAQ. IT'S OK TO DUST OFF THE DOD HANDBOOK FOR VIETNAM AND LOOK UP THE CHAPTER ON WINNING THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF THE PEOPLE BY DESTROYING THEIR CITIES ONE BY ONE.



http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,1331...html?ESRC=eb.nl

More U.S. Troops For Iraq
Christian Science Monitor
November 19, 2004

Amid a spike in violence in Iraqi cities coinciding with the Fallujah offensive, the U.S. military is now planning to boost combat forces to secure the country for elections in January.

The U.S. is likely to expand the force by thousands of GIs in coming weeks by delaying the departure of more experienced units from Iraq as fresh troops rotate in, military officials say.



The overlap would create a temporary surge in American forces - which now number 141,000 in Iraq - to cope with an expected wave of insurgent attacks aimed at disrupting the polling. More U.S. troops are required as Iraqi security forces remain highly vulnerable to attacks and intimidation. This was underscored by a rash of insurgent strikes on police stations in Mosul, Baqubah, and other cities in the past week, when attacks nationwide rose to 50 percent higher than the average in recent months.

Some U.S. military officials have long argued that the United States cannot win the war in Iraq without committing tens of thousands more troops. Others contend that more troops would simply present more targets, and the U.S. military should scale back and let Iraqis contend with much of the violence.

In reality, the U.S. cannot substantially increase ground forces in Iraq for the long term without accepting risk in other parts of the world or making Iraq tours longer or closer together - a step sure to lower morale. "I'm committed to providing the troops that are requested, but I can't promise more than I've got," the Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, told a Congressional hearing Wednesday in which military service chiefs detailed soaring demands on manpower and equipment.

"The demand on the force has increased exponentially," the Marine Corps commandant, Gen. Michael Hagee, told the House Armed Services Committee, saying Marines now spend about twice as much time deployed as two years ago.

Decisions are expected soon on extending specific units in Iraq, and on the possibility of deploying others early from bases in the U.S., according to senior military officials. In October, the military ordered some 6,500 troops to delay their departure from Iraq.

"There is ample opportunity" to increase troop levels by overlapping new arrivals with others whose tours would be extended as large units of 20,000 to 30,000 troops rotate, says a senior U.S. military official in Baghdad. But a larger increase could run into constraints - the current limits of basing and support services.

The string of U.S.-led military offensives on insurgent-held cities across Iraq since August has underscored the necessity for more American troops as well as elite Iraqi commando units. They're needed to step in for struggling local Iraqi security forces that are frequently unwilling or unable to fight off insurgents who threaten them and their families.

"When you take an area that has a stronghold of insurgents and you have to build the Iraqi police force from that population, you set yourself up potentially for failure if you don't have some type of moderating force," says Brig. Gen. Erv Lessel, deputy director for operations of Multinational Forces-Iraq.

To ensure that recaptured cities such as Fallujah and Samarra do not fall back under insurgent control, U.S. commanders are having to commit additional forces to maintaining a presence there, both with U.S. troops and non-local Iraqi forces such as Iraqi National Guard (ING) units from outside areas.

Indeed, in recent weeks U.S. commanders have pushed thousands of additional soldiers and Marines into trouble spots in the Sunni triangle such as Fallujah, Samarra, Ramadi, and most recently the northern city of Mosul.

Samarra, for example, had no coalition presence prior to a major offensive in October to root out some 400 insurgents, but now 500 U.S. troops and 500 Iraqi forces are stationed there. Even then, insurgent attacks killed 17 Iraqi police in the city on Nov. 6, as daily strikes in the region tripled.

In Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, the U.S. military doubled its forces recently from one to two battalions, and in recent days has engaged in heavy clashes with insurgents including some who fled from nearby Fallujah. U.S. Marine commanders say they "control" Ramadi, a city of 450,000 people, but have not "cleared" it of insurgents. The increase in troops was needed in part because local Iraqi police and Iraqi National Guard (ING) units were ineffective, if not complicit with insurgents.

"Many ING and IP posts, compounds, and facilities have been blown up or handed over to the insurgents with nary a shot being fired. [There is] much acquiescence in the face of the murder and intimidation campaign," says a senior official of the 1st Marine Division, which oversees Anbar Province.

In Mosul, an estimated 400 insurgents took advantage of a drop in coalition presence during the Fallujah offensive to take over a dozen police stations, burning several of them as well as provincial governor's residence. City police "walked off their posts" and became "completely ineffective," U.S. military officials say. The Mosul police chief was fired.

To quell the violence, U.S. and Iraqi commanders had to impose a curfew, close bridges into the city, and call in two battalions of outside Iraqi forces - a commando unit from Baghdad and Kurdish ING battalion - as well as an additional U.S. infantry battalion from Fallujah. The U.S. strategy in Iraq envisions a growing role for Iraqi security forces, whose ranks are expected to grow from the current 110,000 to more than 150,000 by late January, when elections are scheduled. Yet so far, only a handful of elite Iraqi units have proven highly reliable, while the effectiveness of the bulk of local Iraqi forces remains uneven.

Iraqi commando units such as the 36th commando battalion have performed well in Najaf, Samarra, and Fallujah, U.S. military officials say, yet these forces currently only number about 2,400, including the Iraqi Intervention Force and Special Operations Force. Iraq's Ministry of Interior now plans to add a new commando battalion.

"[There] is a recognition that [Iraqi commando units] are very, very capable and a desire to stand up more of them... because you can move them around the country and apply them where you need to work with local police forces," says General Lessel. "Everyone realizes that the real key to long term success and the biggest challenge is the Iraqi police," he says.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,1331...html?ESRC=eb.nl

Thank you, what can I possibly add to all that? Just appreciating your diligence in posting info related to the troops.

Me, a military family .... speaking out.