I'm no professional, but, why don't the US army do these two things in Iraq?

Question

1. Set up military strongpoints throughout Baghdad, and in all other towns;
2. send out undercover men in masks to mix in with the militants and blow them away?

Strong point - not some feeble checkpoint, but the 21st century equivalent of a castle.

Answer 1

There are those in our society that would be screaming bloody murder and having people prosecuted for assassinating those poor murdering terrorists.

We have to play by certain rules while the terrorists do not. We had a whole slew of terrorists in our sites as they held a Terrorists only funeral for their comrades - BUT -because of some Lawyer General's wisdom, decided not to slaughter all these men because of "possible" legal ramifications.

However - if the roles were reversed - the terrorists would not hesitate to slaughter our men even on the most holy of their religious days. They feel the holier their religious days the more righteous the killings of their enemies.

We cant win a war with people like that, by being polite and politically correct. Sadly to wipe out the enemy -civilians will get caught up as casualties. Heck, even with our playing by the rules those terrorists are deliberately targeting their own innocent unarmed civilians to get back at us. Thats not logic - its insanity.

hence we are dealing with insane people who know NO morality at all. Yet our ACLU and like minded groups want to protect the rights of these Terrorists at all costs. Go figure.

Answer 2

Even if you're "not a professional" that doesn't mean you cannot learn from history and see how the "professionals" tried to do the same thing during a different conflict. In particular the war in Vietnam. Actions like you suggest, are easier said than done.
1. Yes,the ARVN/Americans DID have their military strongpoints set up throughout the south. That didn't stop the Viet Cong completely.
2. Yes, the Americans trained undercover Vietnamese (they didn't need masks) to mix in with the PAV/NVA, then report them so they could be "blown away." This was a real failure.

Answer 3

Phew! Thank God, the Iraq problem will be over in seconds with that insightful plan.

Firstly, as rich as the USA is, it would be impossible to fund the level of troops required to take and hold such strongpoints. You have also not considered that far from feeling liberated, many of the people of Iraq feel they have been invaded. If you cannot see that side of things then consider how you would react if a foreign government took it upon themselves to liberate your country. Would you accept it?

Secondly, do you even understand the basic principles of the Geneva Convention or the Human Rights Act? I have yet to see any footage of militant fighters identifying themselves with accredited badges. The whole point is they look like everyone else so how do you know who they are? If you are the USA it doesn't matter as you can arrest ordinary people anyway and imprison them in Guantanamo Bay till the cows come home. You can even kidnap them from other countries if you feel like it, we'll even let them use our airfields to ferry them to prison. No evidence required, as long as they look like terrorists. You know the type, swarthy skin, Koran, beard. On that evidence my newsagent would be on trial.

I'm not anti-troops. The allied forces are doing the best they can in difficult circumstances, hopefully it will be over soon and they can return to their families. What I am against is governments lying to start the war, fat cats getting rich from the resulting devastation and the total abuse of human rights.

If you disagree then fair enough, you are entitled to your opinion but consider the following:

1) Where are the weapons of mass destruction ? We went to war on the grounds that Saddam had plenty of missiles just itching to fire upon the West. Still not found 'em.

2) Look at the business interests that are benefitting from the war.

3) Just today a soldier has admitted 3 murders at a detention centre. Should prisoners not be protected until their fair trial?

Answer 4

Well firstly, strong points just make better targets. This was tried by the British army in N. Ireland and it just meant that the IRA knew exactly where to fire the rockets or abandon the car bombs!!!!

Secondly, the undercover option requires people who speak the language fluently and without an accent. Otherwise they won't get within 1000 meters. The reen Berets were supposed to act as guerillas in Vietnam and failed miserably. What makes you think this will work in Iraq? Also, if the US army knows where the militants are why not just send the troops after them rather than sending one man????

Answer 5

under cover men have to show there face eventually and their is a good chance one of our guys would shot him by mistake. As for the strong points we don't have enough troops to build real strong points through out Baghdad never mind in every city. All we can do is set up check points and it's a stain to set up enough of them. these check points rarely have more than a squad of soldiers on hand and the insurgents can overwhelm one quickly if they choose to do so. It also doesn't help that the Iraqi military is working both sides of the street so are the Iraqi police. So even if we put up hard points the insurgents can move around by using there friends in the Iraqi forces or as they did recently dress up as American soldiers and everybody gets out of there way even Americans.

Answer 6

Two letters: The UN. Nobody can make a move without the approval of these dictators! The same people in Iraq are the same ones running the show in the UN! Go Figure..more globalist double speak. Check out H. Congress Resolution 40 and why people are fighting to keep our sovereignty! Support it by contacting your elected official at 1-877-851-6437 or 1-866-340-9281! Email, fax and write and pass the word to friends!

Read: En Route To Global Occupation by Gary Kah.. I guess the joke is on us.

Answer 7

1. They have strong points in place. Where do you think those cowards keep sending their suicide bombers?

2. They know who their people are, probably for this reason. Do you think they will let any old masked person walk up to them. With the whole sectarian thing going on, I'm sure that they are quite careful about stuff like this.

Answer 8

We tried this in Northern Ireland and look what happened. if they are undercover, why do they wear masks. Then, How do you know who are the militants. They don't wear a uniform , or carry a sign to say" I am a militant", and by the way , there are about 20,000 of them

Answer 9

The first they are trying to do (but only in Baghdad, to do it country wide is too much and would ultimately spread us too thin. the second is simply not what the military does. It would negate the status as a military combatant and remove the protections of the Geneva convention

Answer 10

We already have FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) all over Iraq and we use SF guys in roles like what you say.

Our weakness is in the fact that we don't blend in with the Arabs as well as we do European types. Militants don't just walk around in ski masks all the time.....