So if only 3800/15000 are trigger-pullers, where are the other ~11200 going to sleep? Probably in a big base (or a few big bases) of some sort, right? I’m off on the exact names for the different levels of bases, but if we’re not talking about a FOB, we’re talking about something similar, yeah?

So if there’s these big bases for the non-trigger-pullers, they need to be defensed from those cockroaches, right? Probably by trigger-pullers, I would assume. I won’t hazard a guess as to the exact number out of 3800.

So you have a few thousand left to deal with ~100,000 folks. Of course, you’re hoping that everyone left the town to give you time to rebuild/rebrand the joint. I’m not even going to ask how you’re planning to do that. Assumedly the plan is to train up ANA/ANP/ANAP to deal with the area themselves while USAID comes in to do the rebranding stuff.

But if its the rebranding that’s important, why chest-puff about trigger-pullers? Why bring in all these support staff to build all these big bases and keep them running? Why have a big offensive at all? To replace their security with our security? Then why is there a focus on the Field of Battle?

I’m just confused about the mission, and I have been for a while now. OK, they got all these folks in Marjah (again) and they’re going to get some security going on (again). There’ just this huge jump from Step 1 to Step 9 that doesn’t have a reality-based parallel.

Not sure where you got it that I’m accusing the U.S. of slaughtering innocents.

During the Battle of Fallujah U.S. forces publicly stated their assumption that anyone they came across was automatically an insurgent, since they had given all the innocent people enough time to leave. I have nothing to indicate they deliberately seek out civilians to kill, but there is a large body of data that suggests bad assumptions and sloppy ROE do result in needless civilian casualties.

That being said, even if the op was scheduled for December, that still has us broadcasting our intentions for the area for three months beforehand instead of six; all the same arguments apply.

I just came from Lashkur Gah; the Taliban are cockroaches. They are sub-human and deserve everything they get from us. This op was originally scheduled for early December, but we were delayed so Obama could dither with our maneuver battalion stuck on the tarmac at Cherry Point—-waiting.

If it was truly our intent to slaughter innocents, we wouldn’t have so widely publicized this Marjeh operation to begin with. We are affording civilians and Taliban alike to flee the field of battle in order to minimize the blood letting.

If you haven’t been there and spent time (more than a few weeks, please) on foot patrols, interacting with the locals, then shut your face.

Thanks,
Ben
ps- and when they quote “15000 troops” you need to understand only about 3800 of those are actual trigger-puller, infantry-type forces. The rest are support troops (medical, motor transport, artillrey, air crew/pilots, ect.). And we need these additional forces so we don’t have to pull them from already pacified areas in Helmand in order to get this done. That would be a death sentence for the locals that have been cooperating for us if we had to move our forces from secured areas to Marjeh.

I didn’t meant to, reader, and I’m sorry if my comment – which was too strongly worded and glib, I think – sounded that way. I am always skeptical of everything and maybe that blinds me.

Nabucco wouldnt just be taking Turkmen gas (how much Turkmen gas there actually is is anyone’s guess) but Kazakh gas, right?

Excellent point, the US can’t fix these problems for deep structural reasons all its own. Moreover, I find it strange that MidWestern congressmen like Dick Lugar or Sam Brownback continue to take such an interest in C. Asia when their own backyard is starting to look a little too much like Gaza employment-wise. I suspect the attitude is its easier to fix, or to appear to be fixing, problems “over there” then “here.” The problem is this attitude, both cynical and naive, fixes problems in neither place. Combine some pseudo Calvinistic American exceptionalism, high profit margins, easy Chinese credit, a willingness to take risks with the lives of foreigners of dusky visage, the need to appear macho to the folks back home (not just rubes btw; soccer moms as well) and you have the makings of one nasty little cake. The icing on the cake must be changed from time to time, too much Americana and macho, turns some partyers off, so now we have a slightly more ethnic, fiesta themed cake. But it’s the same cake, just with different icing.

Regarding the military. I wouldn’t call them hapless victims. The Pentagon needs wars to justify its budget, and you can’t tell me that every soldier goes forth with head hung low wishing that he/she didn’t have to fight. There is that small percentage that want to “git sum.” As one person said, war is a force that gives us meaning.

The commentors and the “Council” discussions are interesting at SWJ, and, if you are a layperson, not a bad introduction to certain material. From there, you can move on to other sites, such as, say, Registan? As for the amount of influence the site holds, well, I’m just a small person out here in the hinterlands and from this vantage point I see lots of bad ideas take hold in D.C. and its environs. An awful lot of those bad ideas come from academia and academic consensus formers, too. Not talking about Afghanistan, but more my area… .For Afghanistan, I think the biggest problem is that, somehow, people in positions of power can’t see the region clearly. Or won’t. But, really, the fault is with the policy planners and the goal of unstable endstates. The military is stuck. What are they supposed to do in the middle of all that madness?