Duh! Military Experts: U.S. using wrong tactics in Iraq!

[leftchick]

Perhaps now they might question WHY the US is continuing to use the same old tactics? The reason they don't want to leave Iraq? Hello??.....

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0606170142jun17,1,1851065.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

<snip>

WASHINGTON -- Despite the recent killing of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, some former military officials and experts worry that the U.S. has not learned the lessons of counterinsurgency warfare in Iraq and that, as a result, a significant improvement in the fighting may not be around the corner.

In confronting a frustratingly resilient insurgency, the U.S. is relying heavily on precision bombing, which destroys buildings and can kill civilians, generating ill will. Tactics used in house clearings have led to incidents such as an alleged massacre by Marines in the town of Haditha. Large incursions into the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi have bred dissatisfaction among ordinary Iraqis, violating a cardinal principle of counterinsurgency.


<snip>

"It's about the will of the American people and the trust of the Iraqi people, and situations like Haditha attack both," said T.X. Hammes, a retired Marine colonel and Iraq veteran whose book on counterinsurgent warfare, "The Sling and the Stone," is considered a "must-read" among younger officers in Iraq. "Fighting insurgents is about not making any more enemies."

<snip>

The increased use of air strikes, said G.I. Wilson, a retired Marine colonel who recently finished a second tour in Iraq and who writes frequently on fighting insurgents, "means that you're losing. A 500-pound bomb causes a lot of destruction."

[Dhalgren]

1. This is the point that the war-hen Republicans don't get!

'"The increased use of air strikes", said G.I. Wilson, a retired Marine colonel who recently finished a second tour in Iraq and who writes frequently on fighting insurgents, "means that you're losing."'

Every time the "Five O'clock Follies" reports on some big victory or great accomplishment, it actually translates into a loss, a defeat. But they just don't get it....

[leftchick]

2. it will take years of bombings

and the desrtruction of Iraq before the pro-war repukes and dems get it.