US army troops in Iraq, you need to be honest with the american public?

Question

You assure everyone that you can handle what you started in Iraq, but there is constant blood shed (both of yours and the Iraqi people).

please be honest:

Can you handle the mess in Iraq or not?

I, just like the rest of the american people, need answers, not BS propaganda.

Thank you for trying to do something in Iraq.

people say:

"troops only following orders"

But then, why is it that troops seem to honestly believe what they are told??

Answer 1

No they cant.

Answer 2

The first thing you have to remember is that what the troops see is not what the media tells you.

The media is all about ratings and body counts, fear and defeat all get better ratings.

Just look at the media coverage in Iraq right now. The media ignores the fact that Iraq elected a democratic government over a year ago. They misrepresent the amount of violence in the country by failing to tell you that the violence is centered in a few provinces.

I served in a brigade headquarters in Iraq and we had CNN running 24x7. I was appalled by how negative and misleading the news was compared with the actual reports from the field.

The war in Iraq cannot be lost by the troops. The only people who can lose this war is people like you - by letting the troops down.

Do you have enough respect for us to work to ensure that our efforts and sacrifices will be worth something? Or are you going to flush everything we did down the toilet for your partisan politics?

Answer 3

The troops didn't start anything. Politicians did. Blame the politicians and media for the B.S. not the soldiers who serve and ask nothing in return.

BTW--- Be aware that the media lies to create stories. Just this past week, my BIL had the unfortunate task of taking a reporter from NBC around outside of Baghdad. The article came out and my BIL was shocked to find out that they were mortared and shot at. .... In other words, IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. The reporter also claimed that the Iraqis claimed of Al Qaeda in the neighborhood. Also, not true. Here's how it went:

Reporter: Is there Al Qaeda operating here?
Iraqi Citizen: No.
Reporter: Do you THINK Al Qaeda is operating here?
Iraqi: No
Reporter: How can you be sure? Don't you think it's possible.
Iraqi: (shoulder shrug)

And that needling exchange turns into a headline.

Be careful what you believe.

Answer 4

Your beginning statement is wrong. The military doesn't start wars. Wars are the last measure of diplomacy, when all other measures fail. The leaders of nations start wars, not the military.

The troops can handle the "mess". The problem lies with political pressures that put restraints on the troops. "You can't do this.... You can't go there....." This ties the hands of the troops and limits their ability. This was seen to a much bigger extent in Vietnam.

To put things in perspective. It took 10 years to quell the civil unrest in Europe after WWII. Fewer troops have died in Iraq through the last 4 years than died on day 1 of the D-day invasion.

In order for the military to "clean up the mess" they need to have their restraints removed, shut down the border with Iran and take military measures against Iran to get them to stay out of Iraq.

Answer 5

yet another person who in ordinary terms listens to 0.5 of the story and makes up something. McCain would not want to maintain the Iraq conflict going for one hundred years. He never stated that. He never implied that. it incredibly is basically made up. He did say that there ought to be troops in Iraq for one hundred years yet he has never even endorsed that. He basically pronounced the possibility as quickly as. i admire how human beings attempt to tie Bush and McCain to grease companies yet continually ignore that Al Gore's fortune all got here from oil. Neither Bush nor McCain want the conflict to final one hundred years. they have the two stated as for the troops to be bumped off as quickly as accessible yet Bush did no longer want to set a schedule without the Iraqi enter. Now that the Iraqi's are waiting to take over, the Bush administration has been discussing the timetable with them. the U. S. public voted out the "Rubberstamp Republicans" in 2006 and rather have been given a gaggle of Democrats that have persevered to fund the conflict they have been supposedly against without question. a superb type of excellent it did.

Answer 6

I just got to say that, as myself being an ARMY soldier whose fought in iraq twice, OIF 1 and OIF 3, I think that it's pretty f*cked up that you ask such a question. Who do you think you are ? If you've never been to iraq, then you couldln't possilby have any understanding as to what we go through over there.

We never said that we could or couldn't handle what started in iraq. The Generals above made those decsisions, and we follow the orders, to the best of our ability.

Just be glad that we volunteer to serve the country, and do what we do, otherwise, your *** wouldn't be in america, getting that education without paying a price such as possibly going to iraq and losing your life.

Answer 7

We could handle it if we had about 250 000 more troops there. There just aren't enough right now.

But having more troops there would probably result in increased bloodshed to begin with because of increased OPTEMPO.

Where you're going to get an extra 250 000 troops, I don't know. They probably should have figured that part out before invading Iraq...

Answer 8

(1) We are more or less honest with the American public.

(2) Counterinsurgency sees blood. That is a fact of life. You have bloody riots in Gujarat and elsewhere, bandits and Maoists running around in the countryside. No one says the Indian government can't maintain order now, do they?

(3) Thank you for saying "thank you" but you're really starting to get annoying, first with your Gandhi nonsense and now this. You may want to reconsider how you phrase your questions from now on.

By the way, you may want to stick to open source media and get yourself a B.A. in International Relations before leaning on Yahoo! Answers to give you the answer to something as complex as Middle East crises. Just less of a chance for you to get hammered for ignorance overall. Such as:

"But then, why is it that troops seem to honestly believe what they are told??"

If you really believe we're all automatons, you're a jackass.

Answer 9

RAJ who the hell do you think you are? You come to THIS country to get an education because your country is too pathetically ignorant to provide it to you. And you think you have the right to try to put us down? Your country has to buy USED ships from our Navy, and used helos. Oh, yes, this is true. India just bought our OLD USS Trenton LPD-14, now named the INS JASHALWA or JASHALVA and 6 USED H-3 Sea King helos. The C.O. is B.S. Ahluwalia. (I attended this ceremony: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1287538.cms )I've never seen senior enlisted treated the way those men are treated on that ship! Ever try to eat baked chicken with a spoon? I was invited to eat lunch with the enlisted men(I'm not good enough to eat with the officers) and all we had were SPOONS. They won't even use the scullery machine (dish washing machine that sterilizes as well as washes dishes) . We had to get the Master Chief store keeper to get his troops to FLUSH THE USED TOILET PAPER DOWN THE TOILET! They were putting the used toilet paper in buckets in the stalls! Your society is bogged down in a bigoted caste system that forces women to marry a man they don't want to, yet you sit there bad mouthing THIS country? You've got some nerve RAJ. When your country can come up to the standards that this country has, then you can start bad mouthing us. Until then, sit down, shut up and hold on. Get your education, and get the hell out of Dodge and go back to your cow worshiping, rat worshiping poverty infested streets of India and improve THAT.
(USN, retired)

Answer 10

Your asking the question to the wrong people. the average soldier/marine/sailor/airman in Iraq has absolutely no say so as to what will and won''t happen. They can't see the big picture, nor can they see what other agencies, bases, etc are doing. It would be like asking the policeman in New York, what the status is of illegal immigration in California. How would he know? If you want to ask that question, ask the commanding generals, but, I'm afraid they are probably a little to busy to email you or sit on Yahoo answers all day.

Answer 11

The military is a massive machine with countless moving parts- no one solidier could give an accurate answer because his individual experience and role is only a small bit of a much bigger one.

The value of the individual soldiers experience and viewpoint has to be put into the perspective of the whole, it would be the most legitamate set of opinions in one context, and the most biased and unqualified in others.