Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to The "more troops" myth.

Myth? So you say.

The idea that if we had "concentrated" on Afghanistan, that the war there would have been more successful, has no real basis in fact. For one thing, the war in Afghanistan began almost a year and a half before the invasion of Iraq.

The "more troops" myth: As with Iraq, nobody has been able to really specify exactly what more troops would have actually done on the ground, given the rules of engagement (which are a whole separate argument by themselves.)

One example: twice as many Americans standing around while the Afghans screwed up the attack on Tora Bora would have accomplished...what?

Of course it has no basis in fact. It's a hypothetical situation.
Maybe, just maybe, we would have completely controlled the attack on Tora Bora ourselves if we had enough troops to do it.
Maybe, just maybe, we would have enough troops on the ground to root out the remnants of the Taliban.
Maybe, just maybe, the whole of Afghanistan may be more stable as a result, instead of just handing the rest of the country outside of Kabul to the warlords.
Maybe, the reconstruction would be going faster.
But I'm repeating myself, and since you missed these points the first time around........

Just like in Iraq. If you aren't allowed to shoot looters, overrun cities full of insurgents, attack mosques full of rebels, or do any of the other "killing people and breaking things" that the military is designed for, what good does it do you to have more troops on the ground? A convoy twice as long just means more trucks to hit roadside bombs. More divisions means more targets.

Killing people and breaking things. Is that all the military in Iraq is doing? I know you didn't mean that.......

You might make a case that you could tighten the borders with more troops, but we aren't allowed to stop civilians (at least they look like civilians) from streaming into Iraq from Iran on pilgrimages, are we?

We aren't? Why the hell not?

I hate to point out to you that Iran is working with the bad guys. They weren't going to "seal their borders" just because we stayed out of Iraq after taking over Afghanistan.

I hate to point out to you that Iran had offered intelligence on Taliban rebels inside Iran immediately after 9/11.
Slightly before Bush dumped on them with the Axis of Evil.
Funnily enough, they rescinded the offer.
Funnily enough the complete disengagement and demonizing of Iran further strengthened the zealots at the cost of Khatami's government.

To the best of my knowledge, every NATO nation is currently participating in Afghanistan, including France. Maybe they would have more there if we weren't in Iraq. Maybe not.

Saddam is really "contained" now. Not just hopefully.

Yes he is. And I think that is a good thing. Whether he was an actual gathering threat or that we had to invade Iraq to et rid of him is another matter.

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