Iraq was gambit; a gambit on the Arab World. While its potential for redefining the Middle East for the better is a great prospect, our leadship dropped the ball on several occasions.. (im not a big fan of gambits unless pressured.. Mystery WMD is not pressure, not when you have real WMD in DPRK...)
First:
Money...
Give me 200 billion and watch how quickly I would capture and put Osamas head on the top of the capitol as a war trophy.. (the expenditure in Iraq for the results we got is a travesty)
Second:
Logistics.. Do your history on the region from when the Mongols sacked Bagdad and Alexanders defeat of Darius and his later death in Bagdad. Then the English (1917), Ottomans, and now present day Iraq.. Its a region known for its strife and unrest of its people to foriegn parties.. Why we choose to redefine our military to shock and awe and light forces is like General Zinni said "they are all screwed up". (I would have thrown the whole farm into the conflict to expedite progress and stability of the region..Not to mention having excessive manpower to rebuild the country... not half arse it the way Rumsfield did for political reasons. btw standard military doctrine "the stuff thats been working for years" concludes more troops when in a urban enviroment, not less) Then again Rummy was a squid what does he know about ground warfare when confined to a ship.. go figure.. (Kind of like airforce telling airdefense how to operate..)
On top of that by expediting the situation in Iraq you would free up troops to hunt for the real face of terror Osama the Saudi (note the saudi part.. they were playing both sides thats pretty obvious and hence should have been repremanded accordingly..)(IMO we should watch them more closely in the future to determine if this was a fluke attack or a pattern..)
Third:
Torture....
Im not against torture or cohesion vs high value military targets if its going to save lives, But goat farmers, people caught up in family feuds, and petty criminals thats alittle overzealous dont you think..
Getting caught is as bad as the torture itself.. All nations torture in one form or another you would be naive to think otherwise. Its just they are smart enough not to advertise it.. We in our arrogance did just the opposite, thinking blackmail of the prisoners would be a good thing..(im thinking evidence.) Utter incompetence is what comes to mind in this scenario.. Then the scapgoating of junior NCO's is even more pathetic.. In short order its a cluster ****....
In a nutshell:
1: High expenditure little to show for it.. except world disenfranchisement. This includes pilferage and mismanagement of funds..
2. Pentagon / Rum/Wolfo logistical incompetence. (Troop strength etc..)
3: ******* Torture.. low priority targets and having the gaul to get caught redhanded at it; then attempting a cover up in the age of communication (internet etc..) with junior enlisted soldiers as the fall guys.. "Be all you can Be"
Got plenty more but those three things are what most I despise with the Iraqi conflict.
Its not too late we can rise out of this. We just need the current leadership to get smarter or new leadership to get smarter.
its just that simple: "Get Smarter"
2 cents
DoctorYo