General: U.S. didn't note post-invasion Iraq power shift quickly enough

[lebkuchen]

The war in Iraq, now 1½-years-old, has taught the U.S. military many lessons on the fly, Wallace said.

Among them:

The ability to fight an enemy that doesn’t fight fair, such as by blending in with civilians and using human shields, and hiding personnel and military assets within sensitive sites such as mosques, hospitals and schools, and using public communications to coordinate operations.

The need to focus training on combat in a downtown environment such as Baghdad. “How does a battalion or brigade operate in an urban environment?” he asked.

Rethink the time spent on teaching gunnery skills. “We haven’t run into a tank lately, at least not one with anybody on board,” Wallace said.

Improve coordination and timing between the fighters and their suppliers. “It took 3rd Infantry Division 20 days to get repair parts once it got to Baghdad,” Wallace said.


http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=24641

General, how fair a fight is it to drop thousands of tons of bombs on a capital city for no damn reason?

[xray s]

1. Hasn't anyone been paying attention to the West Bank and Gaza?

It's not that they didn't know this stuff. It's that Bush decided to ignore it.

[wtmusic]

2. "Fighting fair."

Surprise General! Your enemies ARE Iraqi civilians! No wonder they're so good at "blending in"...

[aquart]

3. "Fair"??????? As in, let us win?

How utterly, completely fucking stupid is that idiot?

[Hamlette]

4. we have been learning the same lessons over and over again

the first lesson of war is: it will NOT go as you planned. Something will go wrong.

We knew this would happen.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. They have learned nothing, they still don't know what to do

Wallace is taking out of his fat ass. The stupid bastard is a general and didn't know any of this stuff huh? Looks like 90% of the DU posters could do a better job as generals than this feckless sorry piece of shit asshole.

[w4rma]

6. Right-wingers are so incompetent in everything but PR. (nt)

[BootinUp]

7. Its not a question of military tactics, but political tactics.

The Iraqis must be subdued with hope of a brighter future.

[cliss]

8. This "General" is a big reason

why we're losing this war. He just sounds like a complete idiot. I really do believe Stan Goff is correct when he says the US military is incompetent. Here's what he wrote: "Dollar for dollar and man for man, the American military is the most inefficient in the world".

This guy sure makes me believe that statement.

[GoBlue]

9. Is this clown falling on his sword or just a clown

I would hate to think that his critical thinking skills are representative of the consensus military leadership. If so, what the f* do these clowns do when they are preparing for war? Ignore reality and rely on 'Strength and Optimism"?

[teryang]

10. Conquering their country for its resources

Was that fair?

[mediaman007]

11. "Shock and Awe"

Saddam baited Bush* into this trap...and it is a trap. We are pouring in soldiers' lives and our country's treasury with no hope to recover anything.

Decent seventh grade history students could tell you that England had no chance to hold on to the colonies. All we have done is give Syria and Iran the battle plan to inflict more damage on our forces when we invade them.