Nov 21 2006
Increasing Troop Levels in Iraq Isn’t the Solution
At this point in the war dropping 20,000 or 100,000 additional troops - even if we have them, which we don’t - just isn’t going to fix Iraq. Yet the same people who have screwed the war up until this point are saying we need “one last big push” to secure victory.
Pentagon officials conducting a review of Iraq strategy are considering a substantial but temporary increase in American troop levels and the addition of several thousand more trainers to work with Iraqi forces, a senior Defense Department official said Monday - NY Times
Again, from what I understand, we don’t have the number of brigades in the Army or Marines to accomplish this since they’ve already been stretched so thin. Second, even if we extended the tours of those scheduled to come home and somehow managed to fill Baghdad with another 20,000 troops, the war has been lost and we just have to admit that and get out before any more people are killed in vain.
The fact is that the Iraqi government will only come to rely on the increased number of troops in Iraq which will make it even more difficult to pull out those additional troops whenever the “temporary increase” is over.
It’s like were some gambling addict sitting at a poker table who time after time has upped the bet and lost. After four years of continually bluffing about how well we’ve been doing we’re flat broke but taking off our watch and wedding ring to throw into the pot for just one last hand that we’re sure is going to win, this time for sure!
As anyone who’s ever been around a gambling addict knows, it’s disturbing and sad behavior, and deeply troubling to watch unfold. At some point you have to tally your losses and call it a game so you can live to fight another day.
