Larry Johnson shares some interesting thoughts about Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno’s comments about Al Qaeda members in Iraq being too cowardly to slug it out against overwhelming force.
Let me see if I have this straight? We go after a supposed concentration of Al Qaeda. We encircle a city filled with civilians. We blow the living shit out of the place. And guess what? The terrorists aka insurgents beat feet and melt away. The so-called cowards won’t “stand and fight”. Well, looks to me like those cowards are much faster learners then we are.
As Johnson points out, General Odierno never considered that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results“.
Despite our decided technological advantage we are fighting insurgents on their home turf. There is a home advantage in more than football.
The current U.S. offensive will fail. We will punch ourselves out on an enemy that is smart enough to retreat in the face of overwhelming force. We will go house to house rousting able bodied men from their sleep and humiliating them in front of their wives. We will detain some of these folks but eventually let them return home. When they return home they will be fully prepared to support whatever insurgent group will help them reclaim the honor we took from them.
We have employed these insane tactics for four plus years. And what have we achieved? A steady increase in terrorist violence and insurgent attacks. More U.S. soldiers have died in the last six months then in any six month period since the war began. And what do we have? A modern version of Colonel Banastre Tarleton whining about the insurgents who run away. Well General Odierno, those run away cowards are kicking our ass. I suggest you pull your head out of yours and come up with an effective strategy that does not play into the hands of the “terrorists”.