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| Iraq |
| Michael Yon : An Open Offer to U.S. Senators |
| 2008-06-03 |
| One of the biggest problems with the Iraq War is that politics has frequently triumphed over truth. For instance, we went into Iraq with shoddy intelligence (at best), no reconstruction plan, and perhaps half as many troops as were required. We refused to admit that an insurgency was growing, until the country collapsed into anarchy and civil war. Now the truth is that Iraq is showing real progress on many fronts: Al Qaeda is being defeated and violence is down and continuing to decrease. As a result, the militias have lost their reason for existence and are getting beaten back or co-opted. Shia, Sunni and Kurds are coming together -- although with various stresses -- under the national government. If progress continues at this rate, it is very possible that before 2008 is out, we can finally say "the war has ended." Yes, likely there still will be some American casualties, but if the violence continues to drop and the Iraqi government consolidates its gains, we will be able, in good conscience, to begin bringing more of our people home. I will be paying very close attention to the words of Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, who is replacing General Petraeus as the overall commander in Iraq. Whatever we do in Iraq from here forward, we must strive to make better decisions than those made between 2003 and 2006. And one way to achieve that is by making certain that our civilian leaders are fully informed. All three candidates for President are extremely intelligent, but that doesn't mean that all three are tracking the truth on the ground in Iraq. Anyone who wants to be President of the United States needs to see Iraq without the distorting lenses of the media or partisan politics. I would be honored to visit Iraq with Senator Obama, Senator Clinton, Senator McCain or any of their Senate colleagues. I hereby offer to accompany any Senator to Iraq, whether they are pro-or anti-war, Democrat or Republican. I will make this offer personally to a few select Senators as well. Our conversations during the visit would be on- or off-record, as they wish. Touring Iraq with me, as well as briefings by U.S. officers and meetings with Iraqis, would provide an accurate and nuanced account of the progress and challenges ahead, so that the Senators might have a highly informed perspective on this most critical issue. Our civilian leaders need to make decisions based on the best information available. The only way to learn what is really going on in Iraq is to go there and listen to our ground commanders, who know what they are doing. Generals Petraeus and Odierno have years of experience in Iraq, and vast knowledge of our efforts there. But the young soldiers who have done multiple tours in Iraq also have unique and invaluable perspectives as well. These young soldiers have personally witnessed the trajectory of the war shift dramatically, and can articulate those changes in concrete and specific terms. It doesnÂ’t matter if a soldier is only twenty-something. If he or she spent two or three years in the war, that person is likely to have valuable insights. The best way to understand what is really going on is to listen closely to a wide range of service members who have done multiple tours in Iraq. Some will be negative, some will be positive, but overall I am certain that the vast majority of multi-tour Iraq veterans will testify that there has been great progress, and now there is hope. Combat veterans donÂ’t tolerate happy talk or wishful thinking. TheyÂ’ll tell you the raw truth as they see it. Whether any Senators take advantage of my offer, I do hope that the presidential candidates visit Iraq, not just for a photo opportunity, but to spend time with our commanders and combat veterans, who know the truth and are not afraid to speak it. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #11 Trade money and time for blood any day, as long as you don't lose in the process. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-06-03 19:03 |
| #10 I think Broadhead and AlanC have pretty much got it pegged. War sucks and never goes like you expect, but look at it this way - most 'experts' feared/expected we would lose 5-10,000 just during the invasion phase. The whole 5 years has cost a lot more dollars than figured, but less lives. I'll take that trade. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2008-06-03 18:58 |
| #9 Would have been nice to have 4th ID go through Turkey - I was actually thinking about another division of USMC leapfrogging north out of Kuwait. Human intel was weak (due to lack of folks vice lack of effort) as to the eventual breakdown into insurgency - most of us didn't see that part lasting as long as it did. We should've been playing tribe vs tribe earlier and harder. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2008-06-03 16:18 |
| #8 NS I think you hit that nail on the head. Re: the human intell.....weren't there all sorts of signs that the Iraqi army itself thought that they had Chem/Bio weapons? Or am I misremembering |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-06-03 15:01 |
| #7 Would that be the division our allies in Turkey kept in ships throughout the major combat operations, thankyewverymuch, Colin Powell? |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-03 14:24 |
| #6 Post-invasion we had poor planning for the reconstruction effort - we looked too much at Germany/Japan as predicators and didn't appreciate the M.E. geography wrt Syria/Iran & even Russia selling arms and causing problems in Iraq. I think we also underestimated troop strength, we prolly could've used another division slamming to seal the border up by al qaim. In spite of this the lads performed outstandingly - no surprise to me or anyone else that has the honor of leading them. Not sure how good the human intel was on the ground prior to either. Payoffs of high ranking sheiks in the tribal system would've been good, especially those running their little fiefdoms around the major cities. Hindsight $.02. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2008-06-03 13:35 |
| #5 NS I hope you're wrong but fear you're right. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-06-03 12:47 |
| #4 My guess is that the competent people who made the plans had them upset by Saudi employees at the DoS. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-03 11:56 |
| #3 I don't think that Mr. Yon, whom I respect greatly, has it quite correct historically. We went into Iraq with as many troops as needed to win the war. The plans for what to do after that certainly didn't work out but I doubt that we didn't have any. My guess is that the people that were doing the planning were looking at the Japan, Germany occupations as models and missed a couple of big differences. 1) The losers had been totally beaten into submission. We don't fight that way anymore (rightly or wrongly) so the situation on the ground will be different. 2) There was no active enemy left anywhere to foment trouble after the fact. Iraq has all sorts of trouble making neighbors, not to mention that 1) leaves a bunch of them on site. As was said, "No plan survives contact with the enemy". |
| Posted by: AlanC 2008-06-03 11:24 |
| #2 if McCain is smart he will do this - bump up the blog presence, and point out jsut how WRONG Obama was on the surge and how disconnected Obama is from the troops. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-06-03 10:43 |
| #1 The dhimocrats won't take you up on it Yon. They have invested too deeply in the defeat of the United States. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-06-03 08:06 |