From: "Mark" 

Just a note for the record, I also think the troops (be they UK, US, AU, or
from any other country) deserve as much R&R as possible.

But, interpreting that Ledeen column as classifying the troops as
responsible in any way for failure (a false "failure" at that,
that lingers only in, and is obsessive of, the "progressive"
defeatist mind-set), same troops that have never failed in any endeavor
we've engaged in since our founding, and have never lost a battle in Iraq,
is just so much puke inducing BS.

"Phil Payne"  wrote in
message news:45af4d6b$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
> "Mark"  wrote in message
news:45aef5f6$1{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>> I cannot ascertain why John thinks Ledeen is "blaming"
the troops for
>> failure in that column. Our troops do what is directed of them, if
>> they're
>> sitting around here and there, it is not because they choose to do so, it
> is
>> because of absence of orders otherwise.
>
> I think that very unlikely.
>
> They are facing the worst possible conditions imaginable every time they
> go
> out on the streets.  Anyone could be an enemy - any building could house a
> sniper.  Any bundle of rags could be a bomb.  A deadly attack could come
> at
> any instant. Just like our troops in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
> But the enemy these guys face care nothing for their own lives - regarding
> death during such an attack as martyrdom.
>
> It must be absolutely terrifying, and their commanders must be very well
> aware of the intense psychological burden the grunts are carrying.  All
> they
> are doing, sitting in safety in their air-conditioned megabases, is simply
> taking their R&R in theatre.  Surrounded by an increasingly hostile Muslim
> world, there is just nowhere local that's safe to do that, and bringing
> them
> home between duties is too costly.
>
> Personally, I don't begrudge them respite from the terror they face on
> patrol and I believe, if they have air-conditioning, steaks, phones to
> call
> home, then they deserve them.
>
> Let's not forget what terrorists do.  They instill terror.  Anyone who
> faces
> it professionally deserves long breaks. And let's also not forget how many
> tours some have already done.
>
> If Shrub had said he was sending 20,000 troops out so the guys already
> there
> could take longer breaks, I'd have supported him.
>
> That was the thing that first struck me about that article.  But the
> author
> is certiifiable when he talks about taking on Iran.  You think you've seen
> religious fanaticism fuel an insurgence in Iraq?  Don't take on the
> Persians.  Greater empires than yours have failed.
>
>

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