Bush's Shrinking Safety Zone

[tw]

Originally Posted by yesman065

TW - as usual you missed the point - What I was referring to was your innate ability to selectively choose only negative quotes from an article in an attempt to support your point of view ...

And again I repeat - all those questions posed at you are necessary to appreciate why what I posted was the KEY fact in that article.

Go back many years to see my posts that worried about "Misson Accomplished" becoming exactly what we now have. You call it negative? Well then why have those negatives become reality?

The 'capture' of those towns only demonstrates a blunt reality. Same stories were reported in Nam. But I suspect David Petraeus is doing something very smart. My posts are suggesting to you a much larger picture. Do you see it?

Can a private see the war being won? Not without grasping a bigger picture. In a post that you find so negative, I may be reporting a much larger story that may the rescue of the US Army from another Nam. That last sentence made your eyes big - if you start grasping big picture.

But if caught looking only at petty little details - ie the capture of two towns or body counts - then you have no idea that a bigger picture even exists.

Those questions are not debating points. They go right after what you must comprehend to then see a bigger picture:

What is the strategic significance of that capture? And why, after that capture, does Gen Petraeus talk about decades of military operations? Do you really think that is coincidence?

Your post must have grasp of why Gen Petraeus has expanded his quote from nine years to decades.

Your reply must explain the difference between a tactical and strategic objective. Be very careful in your answer to that question: What is the strategic signficiant of that capture?

what do 'biblical' philosphies of guerrilla warfare dictate in response to a conventional army offensive?

None of these questions were posted to argue. They were posted to get you to appreciate a bigger picture that is neither negative nor positive. To appreciate why I reported fundamental mistake after mistake made even in violation of first year military science concepts. To appreciate how much worse "Mission Accomplished" really is.

Do you think I was just playing politics criticizing the disbanning of the Iraqi army and police? Not for one minute. I saw a major looming disaster. Guess what. Everyone now sees that disaster - but years later. Did you even for one minute think pre-emption was a formula for something different from disaster? That is the mistake so common among 'big dic' thinkers. Did you see a disaster looming because we abandoned containment in favor of pre-emption? Why not. Were you looking at the big picture - or viewing from a Private's perspective.

To gain from this thread, answer those questions. See a bigger picture - not petty politics that were never in that post. Daily news reports do not yet report the massive numbers of dead - resulting massacres that are yet to happen but that may be inevitable using our current tactics - no strategic objective. Just another reason why my posts years ago were so forboding. Again, do you see what Petraeus is really saying?

Appreciate that "Mission Accomplished" is already unwinnable. Appreciate why "Misson Accomplished" could mean a second defeat in Afghanistan. Appreciate a larger significance in "When do we go after bin Laden?" How? Start by answering those requoted questions.

"When do we go after bin Laden" is not just some cheap shot at the wacko extremists. It is a much larger question about everything we are doing - Deja vue Nam. Our current actions have no possiblity of victory. What is one major symptom of the malaise - a mistake being made at the highest (strategic) levels? "When do we go after bin Laden?"

Your post argues about size of dirt particles in a response to post that discusses geology of an entire island. Those questions are not debating points. Stop wasting time with body counts. Those questions beg you to appreciate a bigger picture - by answering them.

Tell us why the 'cature' of two towns in a province that once had no warfare is now an example of "Mission Accomplished"?