Results 1 to 20 of 22

Thread: How many people should America have sent?

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Council Member
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Posts
    65

    Default How many people should America have sent?

    Hey all, I am no expert, but it seems to me that a number between 300,000 and 600,000 would have been much better (1-2 people for every 100 Iraqi's) of which maybe half of should have been ground troops. Please do not flame but explain why I am wrong if you feel that way.

    This is an old article that might be of intrest from 2003.
    http://www.globalpolicy.org/security...agoncontra.htm

  2. #2
    i pwnd ur ooda loop selil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Belly of the beast
    Posts
    2,112

    Default

    I've always thought about soldiers in theater kind of like retail flooring space. You want as much as you can of the best quality possible. The question comes down to how much you can afford.
    Sam Liles
    Selil Blog
    Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
    The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
    All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.

  3. #3
    Council Member Stu-6's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Occupied Virginia
    Posts
    243

    Default

    Zero. But if you insist, about 450,000-500,000 similar, per capita, to what we used in Bosnia. Followed by a quick draw down after about 1 year.

  4. #4
    Council Member Culpeper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Roswell, USA
    Posts
    540

    Default

    That was a big debate at the time. We had enough to topple the regime quickly. That plan went fine. Plan B after the fall of Baghdad was for the Iraqi police to take control of security. When Baghdad fell the police sort of went home and said to hell with this. There was no Plan C. And here we are today like monkeys throwing our own #### at each other.

  5. #5
    i pwnd ur ooda loop selil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Belly of the beast
    Posts
    2,112

    Default

    Are there any correlations between the removal of a brutal dictatorship in Iraq and the self imposed removal of the russians in Sarajevo? Could we look at the general strife and rapid religious based conflict and anarchy and draw conclusions? What did it take to pacify in the Balkans?
    Sam Liles
    Selil Blog
    Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
    The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
    All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.

  6. #6
    Council Member Culpeper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Roswell, USA
    Posts
    540

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
    Are there any correlations between the removal of a brutal dictatorship in Iraq and the self imposed removal of the russians in Sarajevo? Could we look at the general strife and rapid religious based conflict and anarchy and draw conclusions? What did it take to pacify in the Balkans?
    Yes.

    Yes.

    The Randall Knife Co.

  7. #7
    Groundskeeping Dept. SWCAdmin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    DC area pogue.
    Posts
    1,841

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Culpeper View Post
    That was a big debate at the time. We had enough to topple the regime quickly. That plan went fine. Plan B after the fall of Baghdad was for the Iraqi police to take control of security. When Baghdad fell the police sort of went home and said to hell with this. There was no Plan C. And here we are today like monkeys throwing our own #### at each other.
    Or trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

    We went in with barely enough people to push him off the wall. Not enough to lift him down and set him securely on his feet, or even his knees.

  8. #8
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Rancho La Espada, Blanchard, OK
    Posts
    1,065

    Default Franks' admission

    There is a telling statement in Tommy Franks' book where he comes out of a meeting at OSD and he and his Chief of Staff talk about how they dodged the bullet on PCR (Phase IV). Later Franks describes the message he sent to Wolfowitz where he said he would take care of the day of and Wolfowitz and Feith needed to take care of the day after.

    Shinseki's "300,000" was a statement of the allied force needed to occupy the country. It was, at least in part, predicated on Jay Garner's planning for bringing back the Iraqi regular army which has been commented on elsewhere. The relevant point, IMO, is that the large numbers for occupation advocated by Shinseki could have been reduced in an orderly manner fairly quickly had the plan been implemented. But CENTCOM never took ownership of the plan crafted in Washington and neither did OSD. As a result, what Phase IV planning Franks did was clearly inadequate and ORHA planning was largely ignored by both CENTCOM & OSD.

    Equally important, nobody except the OSD maligned GEN Shinseki seems to have given any thought to the number of troops needed for Phase IV.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •