I have been reading, watching, studying and comparing the conditions of our Military since the day that the invasion of Iraq was initiated.
First, I was not for the invasion of Iraq, I felt that there were other and better ways to bring about a resolution to the Iraqi situation. One also has to realize that this country is a society not very far removed from the middle ages. This is an area that has been Saddamized for 6000 years.
Second, with the quantity of WMD that the administration claimed the Iraqis had on hand, I envisioned a million casualties in Baghdad. It didn't come to pass because the intelligence possessed by the military command was faulty. We have satellite, drone, and personel intelligence and none indicated that the WMD were destroyed or burried. Either the intelligence was wrong or the administration is so anal that the information was withheld form the military commanders and the American public. We know the administration is anal to a fault.
Third, Saddam is in a 600 foot deep bunker below the Iraqi desert with everything needed for survival of 20 years.
Our military has invaded Iraq, and defeated the show troops of a third world country. This was not a war to defeat a modern military machine. This war was won the minute we crossed the Kuwait/Iraq border. The US just drove to Baghdad and destroyed everything in its way as it was meant to do. The American pubilc watched the action on TV. Nothing could stop this war machine. Aircraft demolished any and all defenses immediately.
Now that the United States military has met the real enemy, we are unable to consumate a victory. The guerella warefare that will not go away. The individual that will kill an occupying soldier at point blank range with a pistol is now our enemy. That's not fair, you might say, why won't they come out in the street at high noon and "draw". The Iraqi guerella is not going to go up against an M1A1 with a pistol.
Now that we, the United States, are occupying Iraq, there are distinct problems surfacing. Leadership, discipline, and morale are failing. Let's start with morale. Morale is maintained by leadership and discipline. Discipline is maintained by leadership. So the problems stem from the poor leadership that has surfaced in Iraq. The leaders in the military apparently are the best at making war the modern world has ever known. But when there is no war, just mind numbing work, leadership fails. What is a group of National Guardsmen doing digging a Humvee size hole in the border berm of Syria with picks and shovels. These men and women are professionals who have wonderful and fulfilling jobs in the United States and are put in a position of servitude to the Special Forces. Where are the construction corps? We can supply the military with multi-million dollar aircraft but can't get a few pieces of earthmoving of equipment to the troops. The Members of the C-company, 2nd Batallion of the 124th infantry regiment of the Florida National Guard in their makeshift barracks at the Baghdad Convention Center. There is a picture of them on MSNBC in their "barracks". What a mess!!! Who is the sargent in command of these people? No wonder the morale is shot! If you live in a crappy environment, you will have a crappy attitude. Now we hear privates and corporals giving interviews to Tom Brokaw about the low morale, and no, "we won't muntiny". What the hell is going on? Where are the bunkers, sand bags, defenses, order?
To occupy Iraq, we will have to have discipline, we will have to create an East Berlin, we will have to become our worst nightmare.
8:28:21 AM 
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