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.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice Analogy... so true.
-Ramblin Randy