Originally Posted by
GunnyFreedom
Well, first and foremost, to fight terrorists, you need a scalpel and not a broadsword. The scalpel solution was suggested shortly after 9/11 (by Dr Paul) in the issuance of Letters of Marque and Reprisal. The suggestion was not, of course, taken.
Therefore, today we have a situation before us where we are inside of Iraq and we should not have been in the first place. But, we are there.
The situation parallels Vietnam in more ways than one, and like in Vietnam, the most certain way to "lose" is to stay far too long. In Vietnam, we militarily won every battle we ever fought -- and decisively so. We literally crushed the VC and NVA in every engagement. But in doing so, we created the kind of resentment in which every time we killed 10 VC, we enraged 100 more non-actors to become VC in their stead. This same effect is only now starting to become a major factor in Iraq.
If we say, for the sake of argument, that Iraq was a just war, then the purpose now is to leave with the most victory possible. At this point in time, the longer we stay, the more enemies we create. I say, the next President should declare that victory occured when Saddam Hussein was tried and executed, and that we apologize but the last President overstayed his welcome and should have withdrawn then, but we will withdraw NOW, and claim the defeat, trial, and execution of Saddam as the primary goal of the action, and therefore leave in victory. It is a little bit of spin, but it is effective spin.
As for encouraging our enemies to test their mettle here in the US, well, I hate to tell you but they are already over here just waiting to be activated.
As a former US Marine, I sincerely believe that Dr. Paul's position will lead to the strongest national defense possible. You see, he does not want to reduce the size of the military, just bring them home, to defend us here. With the bulk of our armed forces attached to NORAD and domestic defence, our readiness will increase exponentially, as well will our equipment be properly repaired and made battle worthy again. Our forward bases should be Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico, not Korea, Japan, and Germany.
There will be a coming Islamic insurgency within the US. It is not aquestion of IF, but of WHEN. They are already over here, and we created the situation by giving them battle experience in Iraq, and then leaving our southern border wide open for them to cross. The question is, will we be ready for them when they start attacking us here at home?
If we continue deploying our National Guard troops on their 5th and 6th combat tours, then I am sad to say that no, we will not be ready when they start. But if we bring our entire set of armed forces back to the US, we will be MORE than ready. We will be re-opening domestic bases that have closed (in order to expand foreign bases or build new ones) and we will have a huge force in exquisite readiness right here at home.
Not to mention, if we bring the troops home from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, etc etc, we will be removing the major cause of motivation that makes them want to attack us in the first place. Oh, the ones who are already here will still assuredly attack, but as any soldier can tell you, 10 soldiers with motivation are worth 1000 without.
So, to recap -
1) declare that the capture, trial, and execution of Saddam Hussein was really the primary goal in Iraq, declare victory, apologize for overstaying our welcome, and come home. This is the closest thing to victory that can possibly wrought from Iraq.
2) Bring all the troops home from around the world, and place them in a domestic defense posture, in readiness forthe imported insurgency that is sure to come (their fighters are already here, there is no avoiding it at this point)
3) Remove our presence from Muslim "Holy Lands" thus removing the primary motivation for those fighters, making them easier to defeat when they do attack.
(and additionally)
4) Issue letters of Marque and Reprisal for Osama Bin Laden and his lieutenants. Call it a billion dollar bounty, with an additional $500 Million set aside for bribes, and give the potential claimants a Spec Ops platoon (with intell) to work together with. The quick capture, trial, and execution of Bin Laden (if he is still alive) will surely mitigate any claims of 'weakness.'
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