Politically correct warfare? How do you think Iraq should be handled?

Question

I've seen several posters complaining that the US' efforts in Iraq are being set back by political correctness, but then don't expand on that. If you agree with that statement, tell me what you mean--I don't get it. Are there specific things we are doing wrong? Are our goals wrong? What policy/idea are we fighting for there, and what should we be doing to make that happen?

I'll leave this up a few more hours before I pick a best answer. I got what I was looking for from a couple posters, and some interesting replies from others. I guess this confirms what I thought--the people making the PC complaint don't understand warfare, politics, the power of the US military, and think freedom is just a word liberals use.

You can't take politics out of warfare, because war is a means to change policy. If you go to a country to conquer it, you can clear out the locals, but you might scare the crap out of other countries who think they could be next. If you think the US military can take on the world, well, we'd go down faster than Hitler if we begin acting like WWII Germany did militarily.

Oh, and Iran is a real country, with an actual air force and military--dropping bombs on them isn't the same as doing shock and awe on Iraq. They'd hurt us back.

Answer 1

we shoulda gone into iraq as we should use the military in all situations...to dominate and clear and kill the enemy...then we shoulda locked the country down, with curfews and a semi-martial law status and gave them their freedoms back as they earned them....nuff said...military should be used for militaristic purposes and that only...not nation building..in essence, thats what the gov't is trying to do now on a smaller, more politically correct scale, with this "surge"...i woulda surged them at the beginning, declared martial law with a dusk to dawn curfew under penalty of getting shot on sight...when we are attacked , we should have annihilated that house or block or mosque or whatever...personally, i dont think 1 of our soldiers is worth the damm region over there, and we did ourselves a disservice by trying to fight another political and devisive war without giving the military full control of the situation...you cant send the military into a foreign country and expect them to act as policemen....as far as iran...what are we waiting for??? we should be bombing the crap out of every nuclear, chemical, and munitions site they have now....decimate their army and navy and air force before they get so cocky they become more of a problem...i wonder sometimes whose side our weak politicians are on...its no secret that a lot of them think "globally" instead of american...and when i say globally, you can read socialist..governed eventually by the united nations, where we have the same vote as a country like n korea, somalia, and cuba...guess what..??? we will get outvoted and put into a 3rd world state if we let this happen...think about who you vote for and what their philosophy and record are .....

Answer 2

The Generals from history would be "At lost" if they were alive today and witness what we call Warfare in Iraq.Political Correctness and the Liberal Perpetrators is the sole cause for the Never ending Saga called the IRAQ war.To shoot at the enemy and then to explain WHY.To treat prisoners like Hotel Guest.To Advertise your up and coming campaign.These are only some of the rules our troops have to endeavour due to PC. On the other hand,the Enemy,have no such setbacks,no rules of combat,use children and women as bomb carriers,Kill anybody Anyhow,Anyway,Anytime.If the US forces were to take off their gloves and adopt a similar approach,this FARCE would have been LONG GONE The Terrorist are intune with POLITICAL Correctness guarded by LIBERALS and DEMOCRATS and like what JOHN HOWARD PM of AUSTRALIA said TERRORIST are hoping for the DEMOCRATS to win the coming Elections

Answer 3

Hey good question.

The first and most obvious thing is to open a dialogue with the insurgents. Respect the part they play in their society - the one in their country - over there. That is problem number one.
We (our foreign policy) have to stop playing into the stereotype that young fundamentalists are being taught.
Somehow we need to make reperations for 20 years of social engineering and covert operations carried out in that region during the cold war.

Fiscal Transparency!!!
Prove to the Iraqi people that their dollars aren't just being funneled into the coffers of Western corporations.
This is a big one over here too.

Cease the house to house raids.
Basically there is a program of racial profiling over there which is way more brutal than silly incidents at a US airport. It's serious as a locked/loaded M-16 over there. We can't imprison people for "talking" bad about the USA. That sort of thing has to stop.

We need to start importing our own Muslim freedom fighters.
Iraq is pulling in Muslims from the surrounding countries.
If everything was actually on the up and up our own senators would be free to recruit Muslim organizers from Berlin, Paris, and of course Michigan.

We have sent private industry professionals there but not to work on the countries infrastructure...To secure the o-i-l....

Bush needs to make apologies and amends to key leaders in the middle east. Basically indicate that we acknowledge you.
We need to stop empowering people who insist that is a catalyst for terrorist attacks.
Nobody in the Iraq power structure attacked us in the first place.
Why would diplomacy suddenly encourage a first attack???


Bush has said before that we are fighting for the hearts and minds. This is true. We are trying to westernize that region.
Ultimately we want average Iraqi citizens investing into the NYSE.
We want them to have a stake in our prosperity and freedoms.
That is the shared goal between cons. and lib....

Cons. just keeping reverting to their habit of blowing s*** up.
Libs. keep reverting to their habit of not saying s*** to be politically popular. Between the two of them the war profiteering corporations are feasting like vultures on the entire situation and we are establishing a bad rep for the west that will be documented in the middle eastern history books.

Answer 4

from the beginning war in iraq is unnecessary. it was the biggest mistake from america to set foot in iraq. if america didnt interfere at all, i believe iraq is half settled now, since america is still there im very sure it will worsen more the situation. iraq without saddam is terrible, he was the only person who can handle iraqi people. u.s. said they want give liberty to iraqi people. where is it now? instead more more people are killed from both sides, americans and iraqis and some foreigners too.

Answer 5

Is there such a thing as politically correct warfare? I've always understood the saying to be - All is fair in love and war.

Answer 6

like all wars in the past.this is a politicaly correct intervention.not treated like a war.i think it should be,everyone who does not want to participate like france get out of the way.all non combatants should go to a neutral part of country.let the AMERICAN military do it.they can!!end it,politics are cause all this mess.war is war.this is not a war.it's like an intervention.fight it like a war.don't want to be in it get the heck to a neutral place.

Answer 7

The war in Iraq was completely stupid and unnecessary. Who knows its too late now. operation iraqi liberation. think of the acronym for that

Answer 8

It should be handled as a war. You win wars by destroying your enemies. We are trying to get them to like us. That will never work.

Answer 9

badjanssen, I couldn't have said it any better!!