"Bring Them On" Bush Says...

[Pekka]

Rather than trying to figure out what Bush was thinking when he said this, we should try to figure out what the enemy thinks of this, and then we know if it was dumb or not. If I was the enemy, I wouldn't lose my marbles, rather think 'he's finally lost his nerves and is desperate. We're doing good, so let's toast for that!'. It's not like these militants are stupid. I think they only get more encouragement, and find out they're doing the right thing and why fix something that is not broken...

So my opinion is, that this statement was very stupid. Even when he has cojones, it doesn't mean he should hang them outside his trousers to flap around. Someone should say 'bring it', but I disagree it being the chief in command. Sure, it might sound good to the public and citizens, but I don't see how this could have any positive effects on the situation.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Defiant
I get the biggest kick out of guys calling Bush and idiot, the finished Afghanistan quickly...

Those who think Afghanistan "finished" are welcome to take a field trip outside Kabul. It will never be finished until the Afghani tribal warfare vanishes - probably around the time the US has its first black female President.

Or it might never happen. I'm not at all confident about the issue.

Originally posted by Defiant

without major loss of life,

Without major loss of American lives... Do non-US lives matter to you? No? Then why expect sympathy for attacks on the US?

To me, violent death is a tragedy WHOEVER it happens to and WHOEVER causes it without a damn good reason deserves vilification.

Originally posted by Defiant
of course all the liberal, commies didn't think it would happen. He took down a 35 year dictator in 30 days

Who is still presumed alive. Gee, all that firepower and you couldn't even whack the right guy. For those who think me a liberal commie, I was predicting 2 months from crossing the start line to major force assets being withdrawn.

Quite likely that God told him to utter these words. Or at least, that's what GWB believes.

[Pekka]

And I don't want to sound like a butthole, but they're doing exactly the right thing. Or what does your news and papers say? Public opinion is changing slowly according to some polls, that Iraq is not being handled like it supposed to be handled. Now, it's not important if it is handled correctly or not. Public opinion matters. Without support, nothing will ever work. These militants knows it, and that's the whole point of guerillas and sabotaging. To make the others burn on slow fire, and to end their support so they leave.

Instead of saying 'bring them on' which is not going to happen, maybe he should just send more troops, as it is surely NOT over. Like it is not over in Afghanistan either.
But that's a no brainer, there's no magical buttons you can push.. things are going like they're going, and they could be a lot worse. He should make sure that military personel is not talking to the press though, to express their views about how necessary their work there is, that's really hurting the mission.

[Kramerman]

Do non-US lives matter to you?

not as much.

Then why expect sympathy for attacks on the US?

I dont.

[Pekka]

But I agree with Sava, that we should send more troops ASAP. I see the resistance only strenghtening itself. As they succesfully attack US troops and cause damage, it also causes psychological damage in Iraqis minds. On the other hand they hate Saddam and don't want him and are happy that he's gone. But then again they're not sure if he's gone and are afraid that he might be back. Guerillas etc use fear to have the help of the locals if nothing else works. I don't think we should even expect them to be too brave and turn to the troopers that they've been harrassed. THey're too scared, and that makes them help the nasty elements there are, so it only grows. So, more troops, more missions as soon as possible.

[Jac de Molay]

Originally posted by Pekka
Instead of saying 'bring them on' which is not going to happen, maybe he should just send more troops, as it is surely NOT over. Like it is not over in Afghanistan either.

I think two things need to happen.

Saddam and family needs to be accounted for. Until this happens, the guerilla dink-and-dunk will continue indefinitely.

Get MPs and proper civilian support staff in there NOW. The cute "lets see how little manpower this takes" game is over.

Until then, Bush should refrain from the Dirty Harry spiel.

[Pekka]

Also, it's time to finally establish that legion for foreigners. It can be arranged safely, so that they will never even enter the US grounds. Train them in Europe. Most of them would be ex-military anyway, so it's not like it should be that hard. Keep them in Europe, or if that's not possible because of Europes stuck up laws, then just fly these dudes to some other place where there are no sissies whining about it. Establish a camp totally separated from the real bases. Security risk is minimal.

Now you're going to need a lot more troops to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem is not going away, so why keep pushing this any further. Then send these guys as a speerhead to the next war.

OR better yet! Use them as operators (they should be highly trained) inside problem areas like Iraq right now. Secret troops that takes out militants as they see them, or with high intelligence information. Some of them died? Too bad. Not one of us. Looks like a merc, not one of us, crazy christian or something. They won't carry US flags on their combat gear. Something went terribly wrong? Not one of us. No official list of a guy of that name, we don't even know who this guy is. Arm them with different kind of weapons, so no one can say who they really are.
Naturally these bad asses are not independent operators, but strictly under US command. Only secret, and if someone dies, well there doesn't have to be any reports other than wiping the name of the list, since there are no mommies and daddies asking why he didn't return from the war. Perfect. Where do I sign up?

[Pekka]

Recruiting is not a problem. Just contact few trusted people in every country that is trusted. Then they recruit unofficially, and then everyone goes to embassies, officially doing something else than going for combat training. At this point every mans passport is taken away, and only one ID card that is specially made for them is handed. 100% ability to deny everything.

[Lonestar]

Sava, if Bush went to Baghdad, spoke and said in a speech that the fighters can "suck on them" (while grabbing his balls) would you be more supportive?

[Spiffor]

Does anybody here think this declaration will have any effect on the enemy fighters ?

To me, it seems Bush is just trying to maintain the American national hardon, by playing the tough guy in his communication towards Americans.

I don't think these declarations held in the white house will push any fighter to fight in the open. Or I was wrong when thinking their IQ was superior to 80

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Sinapus


IIRC, something like that was successfully performed on some of the initial forays into Baghdad. Some of the vehicles had loudspeakers which someone used to broadcast taunts in Arabic. Result: Angry Arabic males leaping out to express their rage only to be cut down. Evolution in action.

That was then, this is now. I haven't seen anything for such a tactic (heavy metal harassment by Psyops is fairly standard though )

The Iraqis tested the M1A2, they've tested the Bradleys, and their targets of choice are Humvees and 5 tons. The majority of the fighting force, including irregulars, has never been that stupid to make suicidal charges - isolated incidents don't count.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Does anybody here think this declaration will have any effect on the enemy fighters ?

To me, it seems Bush is just trying to maintain the American national hardon, by playing the tough guy in his communication towards Americans.

I don't think these declarations held in the white house will push any fighter to fight in the open. Or I was wrong when thinking their IQ was superior to 80

I can guarantee you that the M2HB, M240, and M256A1 speak a lot louder than the infidel Booosh.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
I can guarantee you that the M2HB, M240, and M256A1 speak a lot louder than the infidel Booosh.

Do you mean this excuse of a declaration actually had an impact on US' tactics there ?

[Vandal-1]

I think that Iraq will be quikly farmed out to a more nuetral party and I hesitate to say it,but its already come up A UN sponsored peacekeeping force since Americans are universally hated( Except our currency) amoung Arabs.I would guess that a good deal of these men are indeed mercs.

[Urban Ranger]

Well if UN peacekeepers were to go in I reckon most of them would be Arabs.