Tom Ricks: Liveblogging the Iraq Hearings

Based on articles I've read, this could be attributed to better living through meds

This assertion by General P is simply not true..similiar to the fact, the chart indicated Basra was under the control of the Iraqi Army-A false assertion-absolutely!

As to the mental condition of our troopers..ask General P how many, or if he knows of troopers in day to day combat on mood altering drugs. The fact is that many of our people are prescribed drug to alter the mood-many are just burned out. Their families in many cases are shattered-never to regain mutual momentum for a war that did not have to be.

General P needs to be replaced-I WILL NEVER BY HIS BOOK....

Morale may be high, but it's not stoned. Here's a new piece by ABC's Martha Raddatz on which candidate the troops prefer:

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Whom_Are_Our_Troops_Endorsing

What percentage of the troops are on their third or fourth deployment? It's good news that morale is up, although a bit vague, but is it sustainable without drawdowns?

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"Morale improving." Let's take a vote among the troops. Heard the same thing about troop morale in Vietnam from our fearless leaders.

General P repeats that a sign of high morale is the re-enlistment rate of troops in Iraq.

Someone should ask him to respond to yesterday's msg from Wlll who viewed General P's re-enlistment statement in a less than positive manner; i.e. Will wrote:

Posted by: Will | April 8, 2008 12:47 PM:

As a former infantry officer, I cannot help but cringe when I hear re-enlistment rates of deployed units cited as evidence of great morale (as GEN Petraeus did when referencing 3rd ID).

As anyone who has served downrange knows, these units are stop-lossed for their entire deployment and until a minimum of 3 months after they return home. When given the option to re-enlist for a 2 year period, for example that often does not add much time in service beyond that incurred by the stop loss and therefore they would be foolish to pass up on lucrative re-enlistment bonuses if they are forced to serve well beyond their contracts anyway.

So I would assert that these rates SHOULD NOT be cited as evidence of wonderful morale as more often than not the soldiers are wisely also just taking advantage of a large bonus given the fact they are not allowed to get out for a long time anyway.

Posted by: Dan | April 8, 2008 2:02 PM:

Right on Will. The USS Midway used to win the Golden Anchor (highest retention rate in the Navy) year after year. Because if you re-upped, you got off the Midway.

Another factor in the 3 ID retention rate may be that nobody wants to run out on their buddies when bullets are flying. A fact that commanders have been exploiting since time immemorial to get guys to stick their a** out.

Look at 2 things: is the Army meeting it's recruiting goals, and what is the overall retention rate among combat MOS?

Of course moral is up. Sadr's 9 month ceasefire is keeping the dogs at bay

If Patraeus says that morale is improving, that must mean that morale had been low. Gee, the Bush Administration has consistently said over the past five years that troop morale in Iraq was high.

Who knows what else these guys will admit six months from now?

Well, now they can NEVER release the actual report. If numbers are not sited in a statement like this, it's because they don't exist to support the assertion. If numbers ARE sited, you can bet refuting evidence will be delayed until the ship has sailed.

Failure is the new success!

Morale is great just ask the families also,retention and re ups are fine,why the lies about lowered standards etc what percent of first termers are leaving if they arent stop lossed/ why are there stop lossed,perhaps due to the army taking 70% plus of the casualties,,hey general how about a speech on transferring 200K airmen and sailors to the infantry from painting,gardening etc in the navy and airforce ,2.5 % of the casualties, to build that expanded army we cant draft anyone for.

In making this statement, Petraeus chose to betray his men, instead of his President. Our cowardly President wasn't worth the lie and our troops have earned the truth with their blood.

Petraeus, how do you sleep at night?

Yea, it's improved from them wanting to kill themselve to just being severely depressed all the time. There is no caring for our troops in this administration. All the political talk about supporting our troops is just that, talk. If they really cared about our troops, they would admit their mistake in attacking Iraq, and bring them home. Our government has become fascist in caring more about corporate profits than the lives of our young men and women in uniform. We should all be proud of our military, and ashamed of our government. The next election cannot get here soon enough.

General Petraeus is a "CLUCKIN" liar!

Another altered world statment from the NEOCONs.

I know for a fact moral is fed by team coaching. Once the team breaks up thier is a msojr gap.

Teams try and keep in touch because they are the only people who understand their pain and experience.

Our country has forgotten we have already gone through this with our Vietnam Vets.
The pattern of the NEOCONs is to let them die with their agony, painfully.

Despite all the hero worship. The life of a Battle experienced Warrior, (not the desk jockies boasting claiming Warriorship, never seen a day of an angry face except at a card game), is pitched horror and misery of their experience.

Post Tramatic relives in you like ghost.

Issa

On Tuesday morning, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Iran was busily installing 6,000 new centrifuges for development of nuclear material. Further, Ahmadinejad stated, Iran would begin testing a new type of centrifuge that works five times faster than ordinary centrifuges.

On Tuesday afternoon, Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., declared that the U.S. should engage in a "diplomatic surge" in Iraq. In particular, he said, America should embrace talks with Iran. "I do not believe we are going to be able to stabilize the situation without that," Obama told Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. "I continue to believe that the original decision to go into Iraq was a massive strategic blunder, that the two problems you pointed out -- al-Qaida in Iraq and increased Iranian influence in the region -- are a direct result of that original decision."

Never mind the unbelievable arrogance of a foreign policy boob like Barack Obama, lecturing the two most knowledgeable on-the-ground figures in Iraq on the best military strategy for Iraq.

Barack Obama's scariest characteristic isn't his ego, though its sheer size threatens to shift the globe out of orbit.

Obama's scariest characteristic is his puerile belief that everything can be solved by talking with dictators.

He seems to believe there's nothing to be lost by sitting across the table from murderers, thugs, Holocaust deniers and genocidal maniacs. "I will meet not just with our friends but with our enemies, not just with those we agree with but those we don't," he blustered in February.

Obama, more than any politician of the past fifty years, should understand the power of words and gestures -- his entire campaign is based on them. Yet, he doesn't seem to understand the simple truth that America's enemies see negotiation as a sign of weakness.

Evil leaders always see negotiations without preconditions as surrender. Neville Chamberlain's shilly-shallying at Munich emboldened Hitler. Yitzhak Rabin's agreement to the Oslo Accords encouraged Yasser Arafat. April Glaspie's statement to Saddam Hussein that "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait" gave Hussein the green light to touch off the first Gulf War.

Obama likes to compare himself to Ronald Reagan. Reagan, Obama says, negotiated with the USSR. Naturally, Obama neglects to mention that Reagan only negotiated with the USSR after placing missiles in Europe, funding Star Wars, joking about bombing the Soviets and calling the USSR an "evil empire." Obama's meetings would be more like an Oprah interview than a Reagan negotiation.

It's not surprising Obama is willing to have coffee with those who hate America. After all, he allowed an America-hater to preside over his wedding. He sat in the pews while his spiritual mentor railed against Israel. He's used to Ahmadinejad-like rhetoric -- he went to a church full of it for two decades.

Obama has no problem chatting with the world's bloodiest butchers or sitting in racist churches because he "understands" everyone. "I know, I have seen, the desperation and disorder of the powerless," he writes in "Dreams From My Father." That understanding leads him to excuse Islamic terrorism as a function of poverty; it leads him to compare black teens on the South Side of Chicago to jihadis in Indonesia. It leads him to excuse scumbag preachers and to kowtow to sadistic tyrants.

There's clearly one thing Barack Obama doesn't understand: the nature of evil. That's why he continues to coddle evil men in both his personal life and his politics.

Were not hearing about the suicide casualties or the depression that is setting in our troops,which we all know does happen. I'm sure our troops are in more danger of being killed than our Generals. Polls on moral in combat can be deceiving.

US Infantry professionalism .

Many factors:
- wartime or not
- conscription or not
- coalition forces troops same q.: as above
- opposing forces same as above
- USAF USN USA USMC NG USAR
- OFFicers or Enlisted
Now IRAQ You are the US INFANTRY

- There are Potheads
- THere are Rev.'s loyals(revolutionaries)
- There are jail/prison waiverholders
- THere are Immigrants
(mostly spanish and russian)
- Patriots from the bottom of their heart
- Spies and prospective Defectors
(remember Kuwait grenade 2003 !)
- Abusers ( remember Abu Graib)

each can have a good morale in his/her
own world ,

I make re.:

"
Of course moral is up. Sadr's 9 month ceasefire is keeping the dogs at bay"

Morale takes a damper if one studies my
previous blog - comments and also
taking in consideration 9 month "religious
study " in IRAN.Yes ,he educated himself
9 month about the war plan , look at him
it's all in his head , like Saddam 1990 and 2003 ,like Hitler 1943 until he was dead.
duck down , bad consienge , why , having this big thing in mind , he believes for himself he is a target.
He is bunkered down somewhere , but read today's NY times and you learn why.
Preparations , explosives prepositioned
at the effective locations etc. etc.

You know , sitting in a trap without safe
distance to the opponent that can become
deadly within 10 seconds. I ,as their
commander would change to gain at least 14km distance tonight e.g. at midnight
Baghdad time.
Thereafter i could breath and sleep
a lot better. Because I know these 5 things here.
1) My Arsenal (USAF and USN) can be
deployed against an attack

2) I can maneuver ,yes cut and run if
need be

3) The opponent is identifiable before
he can hit me . not visa versa

4) Replacements can be exchanged at my
conveniance.

5) In a time period when by domestic LAW
(homeland law) a commander in chief
exchange has to take place, I am
not handed over as a cat in he sac.
I can tell him/her here I am , what
do you want me to do in regards of
course of action, all these options
open all consequences listed here.
Costs (EURO,GLOBO or $),time and life
estimates cannot
be given in the profession of war
procecutions, we can learn only from
history and use good common sense
judgement
No commitments .No extortions.
No strategic struggles.

practically,nearly no way out

not much moral improvement insight.
Deep in Sadr City, a few minutes' drive past the final government checkpoints, Mahdi fighters in recent days had been openly laying electrical command wires across streets and sitting guard on street corners beside caches of assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers..................

..................You know what ? I do for sure:

- there are many Cities like Sadr City!!!!!

-forget elections and/or democracy

-forget the dreams of Amb Ryan Crocker und co

-forget Maliki and co. GZ goes to the top Battalion of the 33 they have.

-forget the $5000.00 per sec. it is 3 Billion a week.

-forget embedding and/or training (they are and were all well trained)

-forget the sons of IRA(N)Q

- forget everything exept OUR TRoop's freedom and safety ,Airspace,

and the few Super - Bases ,especially the OIL related ones.

About 50.000 of 175'000 men are currently at risk !!!Outgunned

and Outnumberred ! I wish they'd break away unannounced

tonight at midnight.0300 Z

- IRAN has actively (act of war against USA ) filled Iraq with

explosives ,Ordonances,Amo,RPG,GPS jammers,Tripwire RC's etc.

In other words all ordonance is prepositioned and ready to use

on uS Troops at the latest should they make an attempt to

break away homebound.

Anyway, having open borders (millions moving back and forth weekly!)

we can call it IRANQ , no longer IRAN ,no longer IRAQ .

About 6000 centrifuges are running in IRANQ as we speak.

- The US Infantry (USA and USMC) cannot sustain the defence fight

when the opponent (or refugees and/or alleged refugees) is closer than

14km bufferzone . American interest can be protected by napalm too.

This new strategy can bring us to NOV 4th 2008 where the people of

the USA can decide further course of action. GEN Hempey will have

to prepare for further military possibilities , including

arrange for Ships waiting 100's of miles away in Kuwait and

in Jordania(Reference retired GEN ODOM)

also including the ultimatum to IRANQ .

This new Strategy assumes the cooperation of Kurds in the North.

Refugees ,currently 3 millions, can show US loyalty get Armed up

and agglomerate in safe areas such as the neutral zone near kuwait,

near Mosul and a few other predesignated protected areas.

Legality of this war . Many people in this world think we are in an

illegal war . I have payd great attention when 2002/2003 the

decision had to be made. Saddam commenced an agressionwar which

is a war crime. Kuwait was invaded and occupied, he wanted more

power and more OIL . The USA ,with UN Mandate and 36 AllyedNations

used the instrument of war , and pushed Saddam out again . No reparations

have been received for this part of the war.A Cease fire was signed

and during the consequative 12 Years this ceasefire was not adhered

to. The clause in the ceasefire,like many previous ceasefires upon many

other wars, indicates the default case.In such a case the undersigning

party shall again use the instrument of war and continue its procecution.

In 2003 no reason to believe illegality , exept the reverends and urban

separatists in USA (rev. = revolutionarues) screamed " Not in OUR NAME !"

Exept for this, Mr

WINSTONs article is the greatest
in opednews

Gen Petraeus is exactly doing his job ,he is following orders and when he

gets shot at, he pins on the next purple heart on his uniform (if there is

still space ) and goes to work the next day following orders.Never asks himself is the Mission impossible . Maybe he betrays without being aware of it. Everyone knows , he would never betray us willfully/deliberately.

We just learned that Admiral Fallon had in mind before retiring something

like I have here proposed. The Navy can recall to duty all Officers below 65

He should make himself available, because the situation becomes extremely

risky and extremely explosive . This means more than:

Much too fragile and much too mostlikely reversible.

The update to this is in OPEDNEWS
"recruiting from the bottom of the barrel"

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/link.php?id=57957

Recruiting from the bottom of the barrel (1 comments) A link between pre-service behavior and criminal acts while in the military should come as no surprise to Pentagon officials.................

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/link.php?id=57957

This article suggests: we are recruiting from the bottom of the barrel.

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