Ive seen the question asked, how will you know when we win the war in Iraq.Apparently the pentagon is reevaluating the goals and strategy for Iraq and trying to come up with more realistic goals then have been set so far.Heres how General Pace is defining a win, its a little different but IMO much more realistic
Quote:
Asked by one interviewer whether the United States is winning the war in Iraq, Pace replied: "You have to define 'winning.' I don't mean to be glib about that.
"Winning, to me, is simply having each of the nations that we're trying to help have a secure environment inside of which their government and people can function," he said, in remarks that seemed to depart significantly from the administration's more ambitious stated goal of building a thriving democracy in Iraq.
"You are not going to do away with terrorism," Pace continued. "But you can provide governments in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere with enough security capacity to keep the acts below a level at which their governments can function," he said
From everything I've read the remaining mission is to have the Iraqi forces able to secure & defend their country. It may be hope against hope; however, I hope the new defense secretary leads to this conclusion. The US must be able to pressure the Iraqi government to get it's forces ready @ a rapid pace, & while training these forces also be able to change tactics to decisively & conclusively eradicate terror cells. I'd also like to see some effort in the media & propaganda aspects of the war on islamic terror - to show these islamic terror orgs. for what they are.
From everything I've read the remaining mission is to have the Iraqi forces able to secure & defend their country. It may be hope against hope; however, I hope the new defense secretary leads to this conclusion. The US must be able to pressure the Iraqi government to get it's forces ready @ a rapid pace, & while training these forces also be able to change tactics to decisively & conclusively eradicate terror cells. I'd also like to see some effort in the media & propaganda aspects of the war on islamic terror - to show these islamic terror orgs. for what they are.
The government in Baghdad has no great desire to create a large centralized security force. The representatives all are emmisaries of the various factions in the country, and put their group's self interest ahead of any idea of national unity. The only idea that they are able to rally around is that the US is to blame for their problems. While we didn't create this mindset, (the Iraqis have blamed others for their troubles forever), we should have known this would occur. The Middle Eastern media loves to beat us up as they are playing to an audience, that has little taste for anything else. As far as "eradicating" terror cells goes, we don't have near the number of troops, or intelligence assets to do this, and haven't won nearly enough "hearts and minds" to expect much help. As Senator George Aiken famously said about Vietnam, "The best policy is to declare victory and go home."
Perhaps the biggest & final mistake in Vietnam was congress' cutting off all support to the South Vietnamese government. This let them fall easy prey to the North, who was still receiving support from the USSR.
Definition of winning
