jaej

I just thought that they would take more precautions guarding one of the most important buildings in Iraq. It just seems ludacrious to me how they could get a bomb in there. I don't know. Maybe I've just overestimated the competence of American soldiers.

__________________
Μολὼν Λαβέ

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

lauraclay

The American military kicks butt. Best in the world. But they're human. Occasional mistakes are necessary. But still, how many suicide bombers have they stopped?

__________________

The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish,
and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.

The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits.
When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.

The purpose of words is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.

debdodd

if I'm not mistaken they think the bomber was one of the private, inner circle guards ... just goes to show you how religion makes people do crazy things.

security is difficult because we are so damn busy trying to be PC and sensitive to their cultural differences this is a war not a popularity contest!

__________________
"Ubi dubium ibi libertas."

"We are all lone souls. It pays to know humility, lest the delusion of control, of mastery, overwhelms. And indeed, we seem a species prone to that delusion, again and ever again ....."

jaej

Best in a conventional war. If they were the best against these guerilla tactics, Iraq wouldn't be in the situation it's in now. Neither would Vietnam, because we would have won there too.

__________________
Μολὼν Λαβέ

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

lauraclay

We stopped North Vietnam from taking over South Vietnam. Is that not a victory. Sure, we didn't completely eradicate communism, but we prevented it. And how did we win the Revolutionary War? How was the Civil War fought? Guerilla warfare.

__________________

The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish,
and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.

The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits.
When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.

The purpose of words is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.

jaej

Yeah, we did, before hundreds of years of training defined who the military was. We won with guerilla tactics before we became the world's premiere military. There was nothing else but guerilla war. We fought against the British, who were the best. Do you think we could have won any other way? Now we're the British, and we don't know how to fight it.

__________________
Μολὼν Λαβέ

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

lauraclay

It's not that we don't know guerilla tactics. It's that we don't know jungle tactics because there's not jungles comparable in the United States, and we don't know civilian warfare. The terrorists are mixed in with the civilians. How do you fight that without killing some civilians?

__________________

The purpose of a fish trap is to catch fish,
and when the fish are caught, the trap is forgotten.

The purpose of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits.
When the rabbits are caught, the snare is forgotten.

The purpose of words is to convey ideas.
When the ideas are grasped, the words are forgotten.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words?
He is the one I would like to talk to.

jaej

Which is exactly what I'm saying. We can't fight a conventional war. No one can, really, unless you're the people fighting unconventionally.

__________________
Μολὼν Λαβέ

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate

The An-Jel

Incidently Vietnam is one country. North Vietnam won by us pulling out. Vietnam is Communist and America rebuilt it. North and South Korea that is a stalemate and technically, legally are still at war. The US has soldiers guarding the border even as we speak.

Nothing was solved by either of those wars. Nothing will be solved by the Iraqi war. Makes me wonder why we are fighting it especially since the surrounding Middle East countries will simply envelope Iraq as they are doing now and as soon as we leave. Bush will get the hint that Arabs don't like the US exploiting them. They are exceptionally mean about it.

All dominate country's hate guerilla warfare but it is how it works. While suicide bombers seems odd and extreme well... it is to me but then I don't believe in Allah.

__________________
"And let there be Light!" said the Blind man.

Life is simple, people make it complicated - Basilisk

Nulli Expugnabilis Hosti - Royal Gibraltar Regiment