If there was any question just how much of an utter joke our occupation of Iraq has become look no further than
this article from CNN. It details how things are so dangerous in Ramadi, that U.S. troops "patrolling" resort to running through the streets and blasting their way into private homes ("there's no time to knock") so they can hide from from insurgent fire.
After reading this article, there's no question remaining in my mind that we should just bring the troops home
now, because they are clearly serving no purpose there.
The security situation has deteriorated to such an extent that our troops hide in their bases most of the time, and as soon as they set foot outside the compound they are forced to run through the streets in order to serve as a harder target. They're not really patrolling in terms of looking around and making sure everything is going alright, they are just running through the streets just waiting to draw fire. Euphemistically this is described as drawing insurgents out in the open, where they stand no match for "overwhelming US firepower". Well, there's another more accurate term for this, serving as bait.
That's right, the war in Iraq has progressed to the point where there is no security, and the grand plan to try to regain control is to have marines run madly through the streets as bait to draw fire from insurgents. And when running, they are less likely to notice a roadside bomb in time and get themselves blown up.
At the same time, what message is this sending to the insurgents. Do you think they are intimidated by our "overwhelming" military, when they see that our soldiers are forced to run through the streets and cower behind walls? Does anyone really believe that just by pretending, we can claim we are in control of the streets and the cities of Iraq?
I am at a loss as to what value our troops even have over in Iraq anymore. We've lost control of the country and we obviously have nowhere near enough troops to regain control, let alone maintain it. I'm reminded of the Johnson administration in the Vietnam war, when they knew they'd need a million men to even have a chance of putting down an insurgency, but they just covered their ears and refused to accept it. Either we need to draft 2 million people to send over to Iraq, or we need to bring the troops home now, because leaving them there to serve as militia target practice is not going to accomplish anything.
Oh yeah, invading Iran is looking like a real smart idea at this time too. We can't even stabilize Iraq, so let's attack a country 3 times the size and with much better technology. Two hundred dollar oil? No sweat!