Military victory in Iraq is no longer possible. Any disagreement with this?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iraq_kissinger Kissinger presented a bleak vision of Iraq, saying the U.S. government must enter into dialogue with Iraq's regional neighbors — including Iran — if progress is to be made in the region.

"If you mean by 'military victory' an Iraqi government that can be established and whose writ runs across the whole country, that gets the civil war under control and sectarian violence under control in a time period that the political processes of the democracies will support, I don't believe that is possible," he told the British Broadcasting Corp."

I think if we had any chance of a victory by military means, it had to be right after we invaded and occupied Iraq. Not years later.
This is what happens when unqualified ideologues are running things. ... I used Mr Kissinger's quote since he is advising the Bush Admin. I don't think he had that much credibility after Vietnam however. Still, an interesting assessment.

Chuck C: I can think of a few Roman Emperors who might have agreed with you, ( Tiberius for starts and maybe Hadrian ) , but how likely is it that these actions would not have unforseen consequences? Was there a good reason for invading in the first place ?

JH: Many of these spineless cowards were former and disbanded Iraqi police and military forces.
One of Bremmer's biggest mistakes was dismantling the security and police organizatations - that and controlling/ preventing looting. You think these former and cashiered people would have any alliegance to the provisional government or the one that followed?

Chainsaw: I sympathize but don't know if arresting people that have defeatist attitudes is going to solve things. You need to keep the big picture in mind, as much as I need to. The question is about a purely military solution and how it might be implimented.
I am wondering if the regional governments in the Middle East might have better luck at managing this war and assisting in the war on terror.

Infantry: Sounds like Vitenam, doesn't it ?

Answer 1

I'd say a Pyyhric victory is still possible, but only if we can muster enough troops and descend on Iraq in sufficient force to close and control the borders,then clean it up from the inside out. We need to acknowledge to our allies that we really messed up, and ask for help. They may not give it, but we need to try. Walking away and leaving such a monumental disaster of our making is utterly dishonorable. Bush and his supporters made a terrible mistake, and it's much too late to do anything about that, but we should not simply throw up our hands and leave Iraq to its fate.

Answer 2

, Victory is always possible, but I'm afraid we would need to clean out our closet of big and nasty stuff to use. Not only that, we'd have to expand the damn thing to get to the real bad guys, which is Syria and Iran. Make no mistake about it, these are the culprits in this whole mess and it's making the rest of the middle eastern countries real nervous to have the Persians and the Syrians with too much power.

It has been said that Saudi Arabia has had talks with Israel regarding their concerns about the middle eastern balance of power. It seems that odd bed fellows such as this, have a better understanding and trust in each other than they do the Persians.

Now, how is that for a new twist? One thing the world can be assured, this scenario continues to change, but never gets boring!

Answer 3

What are u talking about! They cannot BEAT us militarly, we have the best of the best, and the fact is, we haven't fought with our full military power, why? i have no idea.

This is a new enemy, an enemy that we can't tell if they are civilian or the bad guy, cause they all look-a-like. All they do is plant bombs, shoot and run and commit sucide just to kill us. I mean give us a break, we can win! But it's just a matter of how you use the Military, and i dont' know how they doing rigth now, but when you're in Iraq, all u want to do is survive and bring as much of your buddies back home. Politics and all that crap goes right to the garbage when you're there.

Answer 4

no we can't win this war or any other as long as the people let the politician run the war , doesn't any oe remember what Generals MacArthur and Patton said after ww2? they said America would never win another war, why, because most of the politicians have never been even in the military or the one who have did not see combat, like G.W.B. also why the hell do we have these high paid generals if they are not allowed to run the war machine and win the war? But, we can win a war against any country in the world if they will let the military do their job, hunt down and kill every damned terrorist in any country they are hiding, we have the brave men, the equipment. and the knowledge, why in gods name do we insist on letting these stupid asses run the wars ans continually lose, we are the laughing stock of the world and I am disgusted with this ****, it is time to say to hell with P,C, and kick some ***

Answer 5

I believe that we can win, it will take years though.......and it will not be a military win, it will be a victory for democracy. do the amercian people have the will to stay in iraq? no I don't think so.

I doubt we should have gone there to begin with.........we should have had dialogue with everyone in the region rather than invade and fight. violence begets violence.....that is the truth.

I respect kissinger, I think he is smart, very smart...........but I think bush is an idiot and we see from his policies.....he has proven is intelligence, in other words he does not have much.

I support the troops now that they are there, but until we can get some peace on the streets of baghdad.....and some peace between sunnis and shiites, there is little chance of any kind of lasting peace in iraq. for all his badness, hussein did keep the peace in iraq.......but we see now how he did it, with a gun and violence......it seems to me that is all some over there understand.

I have to wonder, if we mamanged to get rid of some of the clerics over there that are inciting violence.........would things calm down?

Answer 6

Iraq does not need a military victory which really means making the whole population submissive by all out bombing and killing or even annihilation. What Iraq needs is a victory by civil and diplomatic means. All out war against an innocent population would not be acceptable. This is the conclusion being discussed at present and it will take cooperation.

Answer 7

Military victory was achieved the moment Saddam was in custody. Since then the US military has been filling the role of a police department, something they are ill equipped to do.
IMHO the US has two choices, either get out or get tough. What we are doing now isn't working, has never worked, and will never work.
And yes both Iran and Syria need to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Answer 8

You know personally I just dont understand all this pro war stuff, why are we fighting in iraq again? WMD? NO, 911? NO,....OIL, pehaps, I just dont understand the people who are such war mongers, hell, kill them to get our way,nuke them, blow them up because we are so tough against a third world country and you wonder why they call us ugly americans. Could you imagine if a much larger country was doing to us what has been happening over there, really think about it. How can we reason, that well were there now, lets continue the killing of anyone who is against of wishes or our way of thinking. I just think as Americans we are showing our Asses

Answer 9

nuclear bombs will win the war. Enough bullets will win the war. kill all that oppose a rule will win the war. Exporting all the bleeding heart liberals to Iraq and let the religious zealots hack their heads off and satisfy their need for blood will win the war. there are several ways to win, it's only finding the man with enough balls to implement the plan, is the only reason we will loose this war. Pick out who you want to lead the country, allow civil war and back the group you want in power and let them work on each other. When the dust settles, go in and rebuild to suit our needs.

Answer 10

You are right, he has no credibility at all! I remember his days. I think there is a lot of hope in the Iraq war and if the other nations hadn't whimped out it could have been done a lot faster. We are a I want it now and shouldn't have to wait any longer than 90 seconds to get it so we think the war should have wrapped up in a few days with everything accomplished and everyone happy. We don't seem to want to take the time it takes to accomplish great things!