zalatnai soma…

at Fallujah

can’t wait to read these posts. damn Jane

I remind everyone that Raymond Odierno was the CO when US Military used Willy Pete on civilians sleeping in their beds

This piece fills a very noticeable gap here with liberal talking points about the Middle East occupations in general. (Swopa imho is a notable exception.) Too often we fail to address military issues using the language of military preparedness. FDL can’t (nor should it) do everything and I give Jane very high marks for brand discipline. These are, however, the kinds of questions Steve Gilliard (RIP) was asking:

Based on current US deployments to Iraq, what are the troop to task ratios and the force protection requirements?

What about our supply lines from Kuwait? Are they defensible?

Will our troop eventually have to fight their way out?

Democrats simply ignored the fact that Bush ignored the Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force:

The questions posed by the Powell Doctrine, which should be answered affirmatively before military action, are:

1. Is a vital national security interest threatened?
2. Do we have a clear attainable objective?
3. Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
4. Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
5. Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
6. Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
7. Is the action supported by the American people?
8. Do we have genuine broad international support?

If you’re interested Sara over at tnh has done some terrific work on US military thinking about occupations. It’s a shame the Pentagon let Bush contradict what they teach at West Point.

Thanks again for the post.

that willl be a clasic

The Kagans are evil people.

Is Odierno a Petreus protoge, if that’s the right word? Or just the next in line?