The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: twyacht on December 12, 2009, 07:51:04 AM
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Regardless. Afghanistan was and is a cluster(insert word). The original plan IMHO should have thrown out this "nation-building" crap, gone over there ASAP after 9/11/01, and just started taking out terrorists, Taliban, Al-Quaeda, just give the bad elements of that s***hole country a swift and blinding assault. No Quarter. Collateral Damage avoided at all costs, but these terrorists hide in the civilian population, and most of them support and house them, so? Too (insert word) bad...
The message is the only one these terrorists understand.. Mess with the U.S? We come to you, kick your ass and kill you. Than we leave. No recovery, no looonnnngggg drawn out involvement in the corrupt political climate. Leave a note with who ever is in charge.
Do this again. And' we'll be back to wipe out all you sons o' bi*****.
Rant off: Here's a recent scenario regarding "insurgents" and our military's "new" rules of engagement.
It's a doomed strategy.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121330893
Sad Strategy. Letting them go to avoid the potential of civilian casualties.
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Regardless. Afghanistan was and is a cluster(insert word). The original plan IMHO should have thrown out this "nation-building" crap, gone over there ASAP after 9/11/01, and just started taking out terrorists, Taliban, Al-Quaeda, just give the bad elements of that s***hole country a swift and blinding assault. No Quarter. Collateral Damage avoided at all costs, but these terrorists hide in the civilian population, and most of them support and house them, so? Too (insert word) bad...
The message is the only one these terrorists understand.. Mess with the U.S? We come to you, kick your ass and kill you. Than we leave. No recovery, no looonnnngggg drawn out involvement in the corrupt political climate. Leave a note with who ever is in charge.
Do this again. And' we'll be back to wipe out all you sons o' bi*****.
+1000 8)
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By denying the reality of a "Punitive mission" and hiding behind "Nation building" our gutless government has condemned us to perpetual warfare in Afghanistan with no clue as to how they will define a "Win".
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TB,you're absolutely right on target. As much as I love my country and have faithfully served in her military, I must face the irrefutable facts: as a nation, we have forgotten how to win a war. The "containment" philosophy started with Korea and our refusal to kick the north's butt until we couldn't find a piece big enough to kick. It continued with my war--the one we refused to call a war and instead called a "police action." We strung ourselves out so far with our refusal to go beyond an arbitrary line that there was no way we could have won. When the heck did we decide to have "safe zones" in war?
The last time we actually fought to win was WWII, when our commanders in the field were not controlled by the pantywaists in Washington.
Now, we don't want to say anything negative about the enemy because we don't want to hurt his feelings. Don't call the bastards terrorists and ESPECIALLY don't call 'em Islamic terrorists. You might make 'em feel bad. But, it's okay to call my returning brothers in arms terrorists. You can even write a government paper warning everybody about the potential terrorist threat from Christian soldiers returning from the Iraq or Afghan theaters. That's okay. But don't call those terrorist camel- (insert word) by what they are. it might hurt their feelings.
Maybe it's time for the majority of Americans to start acting like we should be running this show instead of the kow-towing crowd we have in DC. /end rant
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The simple fact is our Commander n Chief has not served, why would we expect any thing different from this situation.
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Let them win or bring them the (insert word) home. Simple strategy, simple choice. Playing (insert word)ing games that get our brave young men and women killed is unacceptable. Turn them loose to do their (insert word)ing jobs, or get them the (insert word) out!!
Rant off.
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Too bad our military "Top Brass" has forgotten battle tactics from Patton, Pershing, Sherman, Grant, Washington, that fought with a clear and indisputable goal:
VICTORY. Not to the UN protocols, not to the Human Right Watch BS, not to some bureaucratic pencil pusher who wouldn't make it 20 minutes in a combat zone.
Example,
After the first A-Bomb on Japan, we asked if they were ready to surrender,,,they really wanted to include some conditions,...
Bad (insert word) idea. Hit em' again was the result, that "enlightened" them to unconditional surrender.
These terrorists may not ever want to surrender, they would rather die, martyr themselves for the virgins, BUT,,,they need to know it will be shock & awe every damn day on your world. Until you stop. They do understand that.
Don't screw with the USA!!! Now the terrorists just have to hang out enjoy some of their opium, and wait until our 2011 "announced" date of withdraw.
Patton is cursing from his grave.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here,.... when I lived in NC, I took it out on the wood pile, cut a cord of word, cussing at the state of the world,etc,... good therapy.
Since I still have the damn Air Cond. on, I have to find an outlet, sorry for the ranting, but Thank You!! :-\
"We're going to use their guts to grease the tracks on our tanks, and murder those Nazi terrorist bas***** by the bushel."
General Patton
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WW2 was the last war that generals ran. Since then the politicans have played their games. The military has yet to taste defeat. Those that fought in Vietnam kicked the commies a@@e@, the politicans even tied their hands behind their backs and they did not lose any major engagement and they performed above and beyond. They even in WW2 tried to muzzle one of the greats (Patton) because of some cry baby.
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The US troops never lose on the battlefield, it's the conference table where we get our a$$es kicked.
If our government is not willing to kill every living creature in a target country to achieve their objective they should not risk a single American life on half measures.
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amen
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The US troops never lose on the battlefield, it's the conference table where we get our a$$es kicked.
If our government is not willing to kill every living creature in a target country to achieve their objective they should not risk a single American life on half measures.
Again, +1000 8)
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I'd like to see Obama, Pelosi or Reids' whiny wussy asses over there. I bet something would happen then.
I served 4 years in the Army and I would go AWOL if I were subject to the orders of the jumbo waffler we have for CIC, right now.
Pathetic doesn't even begin to describe the effete a**hole.
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I'd like to see Obama, Pelosi or Reids' whiny wussy asses over there. I bet something would happen then.
I served 4 years in the Army and I would go AWOL if I were subject to the orders of the jumbo waffler we have for CIC, right now.
Pathetic doesn't even begin to describe the effete a**hole.
It would be the first positive National Media coverage. >:(
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The US troops never lose on the battlefield, it's the conference table where we get our a$$es kicked.
If our government is not willing to kill every living creature in a target country to achieve their objective they should not risk a single American life on half measures.
+ 10,000.....win it or end it....
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I was watching a program on National Geographic last night about the Iraq war. There was a part about how Al Jazeera was using pictures of dead civilians as propaganda, and in turn Al Queda was using this as recruitment tools. It got me thinking, and maybe not in the right way, but here it is anyway.
When we go to war the U.S. takes more care than any other nation to avoid civilian casualties. This is commendable, but we are not fighting a foreign army, rather a culture. I think that maybe a new tactic may prove to be more effective. That is the scorched earth mentality. For every act against us, we deliver such devastating retribution, that even the civilian population refuses to support the terrorists for fear of our retaliation. They would know that the consequences of attacking the U.S. are so devastating that it becomes unthinkable to attempt it.
Now I know that the current regime is too spineless to use this type of tactic on anyone but their own people. But there you have it. Like I said, I don't like the thought of intentionally harming civilians. I am not advocating these tactics, just looking at them from a standpoint of "what would this do for enemy morale"?
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The Russians used the "Scorched earth tactic with great success against Napoleon's troops in 1815 going so far as to burn Moscow. Sherman had similar success cutting through the heartland of the South, however the tactic was less successful during the German advance into Russia during WWII because Armies were no longer so dependent on foraged supplies.
On the morale side of the question brutality is counter productive. The failures of the Nazi "Anti Partisan" operations in the Balkan's, or the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan are excellent examples of how brutal reprisals only aid the enemies recruiting and stiffen their resolve to resist.
The British in Northern Ireland gained 600 years in these type of operations and what they settled on finally was treating it as a Police problem. The Police investigated and unless responding to a specific situation, the primary job of the military was to protect Cops as they went about their duties. There are other duties that troops can perform in this type of strategy such as movement control/ ID check points and point security for high value targets such as public buildings.
This type of "pseudo war" is where the Rand Corporations "Stability Police Force" is useful. much of what needs to be done is not appropriate for line troops, they are more suitable for cordoning off an operational area while the Spec. Ops troops are better trained at intelligence gathering, and conducting raids and targeted killings.
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Ok, so scorched earth is counter productive. Sounds reasonable to me. It was just a thought that I had and wanted the opinion of someone smarter than me.
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Ok, so scorched earth is counter productive. Sounds reasonable to me. It was just a thought that I had and wanted the opinion of someone smarter than me.
It may be counter-productive, but it's damn tempting some days.
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Of course if you actually kill everything that moves there is no one left to have their resistance harden. ;D