Journal nizo's Journal: The situation in Iraq (Not too suprisingly, no news at 11) 12
On Thursday, Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, told a Senate committee in Washington that sectarian violence in Iraq "is probably as bad as I have seen it" and that if the spiral continued the country "could move toward civil war."
Full article here.
Have you seen the confidential reports? (Score:2)
The sooner they pull the plug on this quagmire, the better.
Re:Have you seen the confidential reports? (Score:1)
What's happening in Iraq is NOT a civil war according to any normal definition of civil war. Civil unrest, certainly, but not civil war. Unless the word has been redefined when I wasn't looking.
Re:Have you seen the confidential reports? (Score:2)
The US Civil War was horrifying when it happened precisely because it was so bloody and outrageous. The bar for a civil war is much lower than you think - but, hey, I've done counter-terrorism ops and actually had to wear a blue hat while people on both sides were shooting at me, so what do I know
Re:Have you seen the confidential reports? (Score:1)
If you take, say, the definition from the US Army Field Manual, Iraq isn't even remotely close to a civil war: A war between factions of the same country; there are five criteria for international recognition of this status: the contestants must control territory, have a functioning government, enjoy some foreign recognition, have identifiable regular armed forces, and engage in major military
What is the definition of a civil war and others (Score:2)
link me baby one more time [niemanwatchdog.org].
Now, do you want to try to convince me that down is up and up is down?
As I said, unlike you, I have more practical experience in this area (personally), so I'm not likely to be interested in your definition of it depends on what the meaning of the word is is.
You can call a garden hose a snake, but it's still a garden hose.
Re:What is the definition of a civil war and other (Score:1)
On the one hand we have a Harvard expert who wrote a couple books on the subject over the past couple of years.
On the other hand we have the US military, whose entire existance spanning over 200 years and tens of millions of soldiers has been spent studying, classifying, defining, preparing, training, and fighting wars.
Hmmm, which one should we trust to know better about warfare? Gosh, such a tough question, I'm not sure...
Re:What is the definition of a civil war and other (Score:2)
Easy solution: ask the civilians on the ground. THEY will know if its civil war or not, and f*ck the "analysts".
Re:What is the definition of a civil war and other (Score:2)
The basic strategery sure ain't good, and no amount of poking the armadillo with a stick will change the basic fact that it is a civil war, we're not accomplishing anything by staying there, and we're bleeding taxes left right and center while you define what the meaning of civil war is.
In my day, someone did that long enough, we just knocked them out and left them behind while the unit got the he
Re:Have you seen the confidential reports? (Score:1)
And as admirable as your work in counter-terrorism may be, that's involving terrorism, not civil war. Two completely different and unrelated things. Indeed, in most civil wars terrorism is NOT the tactic of choice. Hell, in most civil wars terrorism by either side would be counter productive!
Re:Have you seen the confidential reports? (Score:2)