Thursday, April 10, 2008

Al Qaeda Captures 140,000 US Troops in Epic American Military Disaster

“I had hoped that we were hurling a wildcat onto the shore, but all we had got was a stranded whale.”-- Winston S. Churchill, explaining the failed Anzio amphibious-landing operation in WWII Italy (Operation Shingle, January 22, 1944) to British parliament, "The Anzio Stroke," Closing the Ring, volume 5, The Second World War

Iraq: The World’s Largest Self-Sustaining Prisoner of War (POW) Camp with 140,000 American Prisoners

President George Bush and General David Petraeus recently announced the result of the year-long "surge" in the 5-year-old Iraq occupation: Our 140,000 troops are stuck there, indefinitely, effectively captured by al Qaeda as surely as if our troops were in a POW camp in a WWII movie.

Anzio: Iraq’s Precursor

Operation Shingle was the WWII Allied plan to mount a shock-and-awe assault using relatively few troops and relying on the Allied technological and doctrinal revolution-in-military-affairs (RMA) then known as amphibious warfare, landing behind the German “Winter Line,” beginning a highly mobile roll-up of all Italy, quickly collapsing the enemy, and triggering the liberation of all Europe.

The Bush-Rumsfeld plan for Iraq similarly relied on few troops, RMA, and shock-and-awe to take Iraq in a coup de main, quickly collapsing the enemy, and triggering the liberation and democratization of the whole Middle East.

However, WWII Anzio’s Major General John P. Lucas lingered on the beachhead, squandered his initial surprise, lost initiative, failed to secure mission goals, and bogged-down up to 110-150,000 troops trapped in a pocket of WWI-style, static, trench warfare with at least 4,400 Allied dead.

The current US figures for Iraq are a similar 140,000 troops and 4,000 dead, following a similar indecision, loss of initiative and mission, and immobile quagmire (house-to-house fighting in Fallujah, Operation Phanton Fury/Operation Al-Fajr (“The Dawn”), 11/7-12/23/04).

Iraq too was supposed to be a wildcat and turned out be a beached whale, stranded in the desert by the receding tide of nation-building hubris.

The WWII Germans mocked the hapless Allied troops trapped in the Anzio beachhead (despite the Allied navies' ability to rotate people in and out of the beachhead) because the Germans "imprisoned" their enemy without having to feed their "prisoners":

"Hello out there boys and girls at Anzio. How does it feel to be cooped up in the world's largest self-sustaining prisoner of war camp?"-- Axis Annie, WWII German radio propagandist

Al Qaeda similarly prevents our troops from leaving Iraq (if you believe Petraeus, et al.), so al Qaeda gets the benefits of imprisoning 140,000 US troops in Iraq without having the burdens to feed, clothe, house, heal, or entertain the US troops by building barracks or organizing USO tours.

Al Qaeda gets the benefits of imprisoning our troops in Iraq and sticks YOU with the $1-3 TRILLION bill.

Al Qaeda is laughing at us as long as we stay in Iraq and our president and generals announce that we cannot leave, effectively shouting our defeat from the mountaintop, proclaiming to the world that al Qaeda has captured 140,000 American troops in the world’s largest self-sustaining prisoner of war camp known as Iraq.

John McCain meanwhile plays into al Qaeda’s hands and insanely insists that “withdrawal is defeat” when staying is defeat and withdrawal is victory.

Update: McCain is proved wrong about staying to avoid an image of defeat, as al Qaeda declares that Petraeus' announcement of an inability to withdraw troops proves US defeat:

"Where the American invasion stands now, after five years, is failure and defeat," the voice on the tape -- supposedly that of Ayman al-Zawahiri -- said in the roughly 16-minute recording, which was posted Thursday on several militant Islamist Web sites. The tape referenced testimony by David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, before Congress this month, when he said that further troop withdrawals in Iraq will have to wait at least another 45 days. ( "Al Qaeda declares 'failure and defeat' for U.S. troops in Iraq," CNN, 4/17/08 )
Bury the "but we can't leave because it will look like a US defeat" saw. The world knows that staying is the US defeat.

Captain Ron Paul will engineer our Great Escape, rescue our troops, and restore America’s global self-respect and heritage.

US Troops' First Duty Is to Foreigners?

US elite special forces’ “most crucial mission” is training foreign militaries?

Special Forces are needed to train small foreign units to quell terrorist threats within their national borders, Vice Adm. Eric Olson, deputy commander of Special Operations Command, told senators during an April hearing.

It's perhaps the commandos' most crucial mission, he said: "We know that we cannot kill or talk our way to victory." ("SEALs Face Recruiting Woes," Military.com Virginian-Pilot, 5/8/07, hat tip)

Our military exists as a US-tax-paid traveling bootcamp for foreign militaries?

Did someone re-write our military oaths when we weren't looking?


I thought our military's most crucial mission was to support and defend the Constitution:
"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)
Apparently, our leaders have no time to honor the actual military oath and are too busy misusing our troops as door-to-door personal trainers for the world, even if building up foreigners wrecks our own military preparedness:
Pressures on the SEALs -- and throughout much of the military -- worry retired Army Brig. Gen. John H. Johns, a counter insurgency expert and Vietnam War veteran. "We just cannot continue this without breaking the military, including the SEALs," he said in a recent interview with The Virginian-Pilot.
"As service men and women we all take an oath to defend and uphold the constitution. That oath doesn't expire the day we leave military service. It is an oath that we will take to the grave. Ron Paul is the only candidate that I can see really knows the meaning of the constitution and what the founding fathers wanted. I have never felt so passionate about a presidential candidate as I do about Ron Paul."-- US Marine Chad Clement (veteran) (more military endorsements of Ron Paul)

Captain Ron Paul took his officer's oath to uphold the US Constitution and knows that is the true and only purpose of the US military.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Nation-Building Abuses Troops

"No nation-building."-- Ron Paul

Deadly, endless, big-government nation-building continues to abuse our troops and weaken our military preparedness.

West Point sending cadets to NJ for taste of Iraq (Associated Press (AP), 4/3/08):
"Army Maj. Rebecca Patterson says cadets taking her "Winning the Peace" class will spend this weekend in Jersey City, 45 miles south of West Point and across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

"Patterson's class provides lessons on opening schools, fixing infrastructure, running elections and training police."
  • If foreign armies invade our country and put their generals in charge of our elections, the LAST word that springs to mind is "democracy." --- Note to nation-builders: A little Democracy 101, the military is NOT supposed to be in charge of democracy (that would be a banana republic junta), the democracy or republic is supposed to be in charge of the military.
  • If it is time to build infrastructure, then it is time to withdraw GI Joe and time to deploy Jimmy Carter with his Habitat for Humanity.
  • The Global Nanny State nation-builders will destroy America if we do have a major war and our soldiers learn too late that knowing how to "open a school" will not stop Russian bombers or Chinese human-wave attacks.
Stop misusing our and allied troops for Iraqi/Afghan reconstruction nation-building such as the "Operation Spark Plug" fiasco.

Stop misusing our soldiers as Deputy Barney P. Fife.

Stop misusing our armored divisions to run the Iraqi economy.

America needs a president who knows the difference between a Marine and a schoolmarm.

Captain Ron Paul respects our troops enough to deploy them properly or not at all.