From a discussion A320fumes and I were having:

Dude, again, neither Spliff nor I have said you don't have the right to voice your opinion. Where's the paranoia coming from? Voice away (i.e. my difference of opinion is not my way of saying you don't have the right to voice your opinion, OK?

As to your criticisms of how the war has been run, fine, but that's another matter, isn't it? Let's stay on topic; I think we can all do one heck of a job Monday morning quarterbacking this war.

Your IQ must be in the stratosphere, because I, with my limited knowledge of military strategy, don't understand how putting in more troops to confront the enemy,that by the way helped quell violence and resulted in fewer attacks on our troops, was a "classic strategic retreat." I was just working at the tactical level. You must be some school guy who knows more about this stuff than I could ever be expected to understand.

PS Dealing with it just fine; wish I could have done more.

PSS FDXer: We're off politics and onto other issues; if war if out of bounds then shut 'er down.

 

Adding 30,000 troops is a retreat? Interesting.

 

Moved to military forum. War isn't off limits but fail to see what it has to do with Major airlines.

 

Glad someone is interested. When you don't have enough troops to achieve your desired strategic objective, occupation of a country (Iraq) and you retreat to a city (Baghdad) and add additional troops. That is a tactical retreat. I'm not just making this stuff up Otto. They are the most basic of military strategy, Sun Yat-Sen circa 1889. But they don't quote him on Fox news do they?

 

Ok, well, our tactical retreat worked. It doesn't really matter what it is called.

 

Do they quote him on CNN?

Nice Fox smear; standard tactic to get something like that in and expect it to just go unchallenged. Since you brought it up, I'll ask--why? Why go after Fox? Does their existence threaten your idea of what main stream media should be feeding our citizens? I'll grant you that they are biased, but I'll also say that anyone who criticizes Fox without allowing for the fact that ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN are just as biased in the other direction are fooling themselves. Watch any CNN lately? Have you seen that Jack Cafferty guy? Give me a break. Anyway, back to the point of discussion.

You called it a "strategic retreat" now it's a "tactical retreat." Whatever. At some point a unit, if not successful in defeating the enemy and given the chance, comes back from the front lines to reorganize and gather its forces to either call it quits, re-attack, or accept a stalemate situation. If you want to call the surge a stalemate far be it from me to argue military definitions on this point. But to classify it as a "retreat" when the results appear to point to anything other than this lead one less nuanced in such terms that such an opinion is that of a defeatist.

 

I'm a US Servicemember...and I get my news from BBC for actual substantive coverage...who've thunk it? The Brits and Canadians actually do a hell of a better job of presenting the facts and letting you get offended or nod in agreement for yourself, as opposed to FOX/CNN/NBC/ABC.

 

They refocused where they were most needed. Combined with all-out efforts to align ourselves with diverse factions, and some extremely classified pest control techniques, it worked and looks like it's going to keep working.

Time will tell of course.

 

Let's give credit where credit is due. It was getting the sunni tribal leaders to come on our side and turn against Al Qaeda through diplomacy that really made the difference.

I'm sure the surge helped, although long overdue, but that was not the key in the tide turning our way.

 

Agreed. Just a shame it took so long for the lights to come on.