I think I pointed out that we will probably need a draft to get the troops we need to properly address American nationa security interests. According to a friend who I talked with that has served in Iraq we can maintain our curent readiness for about two years.

I think we can get the troops we need in about a year. This seems to be about how long it took us to raise amssaive troop levels for WWII. We still have a window of opportunity to ger the troops we need. I’m not suggesting that Iraq is WWII, however, a massive infusion of troops is needed and has benn needed for some time.

In addition to a draft, we could encourage Japan, South Korea, and Tawian to go nuclear. This would provide a check on Russia and China and it would allow us to pull troops from these areas. These troops could be reassigned to defense of the American home land, Afghanistan, Iraq, or elsewhere. Also, we could begin a phased withdrawl from Europe. It is past time that these countries took more of a responsibilty for their national security. The phased withdrawl will give them time to increase the size and strength of their militaries. I estimate two years would be needed to get this done.

Of course this will require a sacrifice on the part of the American people. More troops is the one thing that would make a difference in Iraq and Afghanistan. So far polititicans and pundits of all political stripes have made excuses to support the notion that we can’t get more troops. That is what these are. It is excuse making and should be treated as such.

Now that a few more pundits are coming around to the fact that more troops are needed, the excuse making has become louder. Instead of saying it can’t be done. They should simply tell the truth and admit it is harder than we thought it would be and we should have known it was going to be harder from the beginning. In other words, just say it is to hard and we don’t want to make the sacrifices that would be necessary.

Personally I would be willing to make the sacrficies but the American people aren’t willing to right now because of this we will probably be seeing a massive scale back of the mission in the coming months. The excuse making is likely done to help people save face. After all, if the excuse is going to be that it can’t be done, some pundits and politicians can cloak their anti-Aemrican rants in the disguise of patriotism. Also, the so called “hawks” may be able to hide behind this excuse as well for a modicum of face saving.

My friend the Iraq war veteran says if any one wants to “support the troops”, the best thing they can do is ENLIST. More troops are needed. He also says a General is nothing more than a politician in a military uniform. This may be why the ones in charge of Irraq have generally refrained from suggestions that we need more troops.

The bottom line is the American people don’t want to make a greater commitment to this right now. Politicians know this and because of this they will probably not be suggesting a massive infusion of troops. As a result of this, the mission we will be scaled back and everything we set out to accomplish will not be achieved. Then the finger pointing and the blame game will proceed unabated.

In the final analysis, policy makers should have learned from all of this that we need a larger military. This is the case even if we do not plan to use them in Afghanistan or Iraq. Russia and China are the greatest foreign national security threats to the USA in the world today. Massive increases in the strength and size of the military will be needed in the coming years to deal with these chanllenges. A draft probably should be a component of this increased military size.

Unfortunately American politicians are currently fundamentally unserious about national security. They have not even done something as basic as securing the borders. The policy changes I suggested above will probably not happen unless there is another attack on the American home land by terrorists or unless their is a military attack by Russia or China. In the event, of an attack by Russia there may not be time to respond. Huge increases to the size and capabilities of the military are needed whether even if we don’t commit these forces to Iraq or Afghanistan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/22/world/22army.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I think you are right. Right now we probably do not have the troop capacity to get to the level we need. You are also correct to point out that this had more utility in 2003 than it has now. We should have figured this out in about June 2003 that we did not have enough boots on the ground and mad the appropiate adjustments then but we did not but this is past tense. We need to figure out how to move forward.

More troops would be a good option, if they were available. The Europeans don’t have the troops to assist here even if they wanted to. We could supply, if we were commited to it.

According to information from a miliary person who has been deployed multiple times to Iraq, we can maintain combat readiness for about two more years at this rate. If we wanted to, we could probably raise the number of troops we need, in about a year. This still gives us a small window of opportunity to commit the resources we need to give us an opportunity to get this done right.

If we are not going to make an effort to commit the resources we need, then it is time to scale back the mission. As I’ve discussed before, we can redeploy to Kurdistan and intervene in the Iraqi civil war as necessary to prevent the establishment of terrorist bases and to support whatever factions we wish to support. That is, if we wish to do so. I suspect the scale back the mission will be the option that will be chosen. Right now the American people are not going to be willing to make the commitment that would be necessary to support a larger force structure in Iraq.

Btw, to get the military forces that would be necessary to achieve the mission of an allied, stable, and democratic Iraq would probably require a draft. Congress will not be keen on implementing such a policy right now. Personally I would be willing to do it but the American people are not, at least at the moment. We can probably achieve an allied and stable Iraq without the democracy we were hoping to achieve with a smaller commitment of resources. In other words, in all likelyhood the mission will be scaled back significantly very soon.

The situations with Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the world should have taught policy makers that we need a much larger army. Even if we don’t plan to use them in iraq or Afghanistan a larger army is still needed. The Islamic extremists we are fighting in the GWOT are not even the greatest threats to American national security. A larger army will be needed in coming years. Hopefully policy makers will get to work on this.

Another way to free up resources that could be used in Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere would be to assist Japan, South Korea, and Tawian, to go nuclear, if they need for us to. A nuclear armed South Korea, Japan, and Tawian would provide a check on China, North Korea, and Russia. This would allow us to withdraw a large number of military personnel from these areas. The populations of Japan and South Korea do not seem to really want us there any way.

A massive infusion of troops ot Iraq is not fantasy. It is simply a matter of finding the will to do it. Right now the will seems to be lacking. As such, the mission will likely be scaled back. We will probably keep a force in Kurdish areas becuase I suspect it is highly likely we will need to go back into Iraq from time to time to prevent terrorists from establishing bases. In other words, the mission will probably focus more on the special Operations missions that you discussed earlier. I also suspect it will include an element of air support.

A bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives wrote a letter to the President in December 2001 saying that Saddam must be removed from power. Going into Iraq was largely a bipartisan decision, however, the execution by the Administraion has not been as well as it should have been or could have been. From the make up of the group, I don’t think this is being done to help the Administration. It may be being done to give America cover. America includes both Democrats and Republicans. I suspect, if Congress ultimately decides to withdraw, most of the blame will be pinned on the “neo cons.” While they do share much responsibility, to pin all of the blame on them is overy simplistic, however, it will be done becuase it is the easiest group to blame. They lack the clout within the msm to mount an effective defense, even if they wanted to.

Fortunately we are not there yet. We have not lost yet, however, you are to point out that it will require a massive infusion of more troops. If we can’t or won’t make the commitment of troops that this will take, we should scale back the mission. We can withdraw to Kurdish areas and monitor the situation and intervene, if we need to, to prevent the establishment of terrorist camps. The sooner the Government makes a decision on this the better.

Why should the Democrats need political cover, they didn’t create this mess. It was you rightwing nut jobs thirsty for revenge over 9/11 that pushed us into this ill advised war. Now your looking for someone to share the blame with. You constantly insinuating that liberals are too dumb understand what real “chickenhawk” men like you know needs to be done.

John Murtha is no chickenhawk, nor is he a dove. He is a real military man and he didn’t need any political cover to stand up and speak the truth. It’s over in Iraq. Unless the U.S. is willing to put 150-250,000 more troops in Iraq it will not be able to secure Iraq. It’s just that simple. He didn’t blink, I might add, when your kind hurled cut-and-run or defeatocrat or what ever other sophomoric slogans you were willing to play political games with at the expense of the lives of American troops.

Moran: “President Kennedy said,… “As soon as we can put someone in power who will ask us to leave.” Perhaps Bush should keep that story in mind when James Baker and the ISG come calling after the election.”

Yeah, look how well Vietnam turned out. And don’t forget Sistani asked the U.S. to leave soon after Baghdad fell. Maybe we’ve over stayed our welcome.

This war is different in many ways from Vietnam, but exactly the same in one way, the best and the brightest got it totally wrong…