BAGHDAD (AP) - The Iraqi government has dismissed about 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted or refused to fight during last month’s offensive against Shiite militias and criminal gangs in Basra, officials said Sunday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said 921 police and soldiers were fired in Basra. They included 37 senior police officers ranging in rank from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general.

The others were dismissed in Kut, one of the Shiite cities where the fight had spread.

Last month, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the security forces to confront armed groups in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city.

But they met fierce resistance and the attack quickly ground to a halt as fighting flared across the Shiite south and Baghdad.

Full Story Here:
1,300 Iraqi Troops, Police Dismissed

1,300 Iraqi troops and police are dismissed?? For desertion?? DISMISSED??

They deserted in time of WAR, they should be lined up and SHOT!!

That’s numbers coming close to being half of a combat brigade folks, a brigade is 3,500 troops, and we have many brigades in Iraq, and they are waiting on the Iraqi army to STAND UP so that they can come home, but the Iraqis have desertions in these kinds of numbers, and ALL that gets done is a dismissal, a mere slap on the wrist??

These are the people that OUR troops are fighting and dying for, our sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, moms, dads, husbands and wives, and many friends as well, and this is what we can expect from the Iraqi army and police??

It’s time to re-think this Debacle in Iraq, I have NEVER voted for a Democrat in my life, but if that’s what it takes to get our troops OUT of Iraq, then by God I WILL vote Democrat this go round, and make NO mistake, I know that over all, a vote for the Dems is a bad thing, but voting for a Democrat is exactly what you’ll be doing if you vote for John McCain, a Democrat without the name, a candidate that is nothing more than a RINO, and the one thing that John McCain guarantees is this, we’re going to stay in Iraq, fighting and dying for a people that will NOT stand and fight for themselves…

We were attacked by the Taliban and their cohorts on 9-11-01, and I never balked so much as once when we went to Afghanistan to take on that bunch of thugs, but Iraq was NOT about the Taliban or al-Qaida, not in it’s inception, Iraq was simply George W. Bush having a temper tantrum because Saddam defied his wishes and threatened ‘Daddy’, and after several changes of mission statement and definition, we’re still there, in Iraq, an entire nation that is NOT worth the life of so much as ONE of our fine men and women in uniform…

I know there will be many that disagree with this post, but quite frankly, I DON’T CARE, if you can’t open your eyes and see what us being in Iraq has done to this nation, and what George W. Bush has brought upon this nation by taking us TO Iraq, then you are truly one of the blind Bush Bots, and if that offends you, feel free to click out of this blog and stay clicked out!!

I personally feel that those who support the Debacle in Iraq are doing a dis-service to our military members, if we are going to go to war, anywhere in this world, we owe it to our men and women in uniform to prosecute that war in the most expeditious manner possible, and to get them home safely, as soon as possible, and that has NOT been the case in Iraq, we are still conducting a tit for tat, a travesty which we have no apparent desire to end…

And once again the war fighting skills of the Iraqi army make it quite apparent as to exactly WHY we rolled over Saddam and his Republican Guard in such short order, the Iraqis WILL NOT FIGHT, they will conduct insurgent and guerrilla operations, they WILL persecute defenseless people, they will dominate and murder those that won’t fight back but IF there is a challenge made against the Iraqi army, they, as a whole, show their true colors and run like dogs…

Any nation or people that refuses to fight for it’s own freedom is NOT worth fighting FOR, not by us or any other nation, a people that will not stand in their own defense are not worth defending!!

Support Iraqi Freedom?? Screw Iraq AND it’s freedom, bring our troops home NOW, or deploy them to a place where they can actually do some good in the War on Terror, and not leave them act as stand-ins and IED fodder for some insurgency and their civil war!

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BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — The 101st Airborne Division took command of American forces in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, helping to boost U.S. troop levels in the country to their highest number since the 2001 invasion.

Marching in step, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne retired the unit’s flag during a ceremony under a light rain beside the main runway at Bagram Air Field. Then 101st paratroopers unfurled their flag, officially marking the start of their 15-month tour.

The 101st has 7,200 troops in Afghanistan, several hundred more than the 82nd. Its arrival, coupled with the deployment of some 3,500 Marines to the country’s south, has pushed the total number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to over 32,000, part of a steady rise in force levels as violence has increased over the last two years.

The top American commander in Afghanistan has requested three more brigades — about 7,500 more troops — and the Pentagon has promised that more troops will be sent next year.

Following the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, the U.S. had fewer than 10,000 troops in the country, and no real presence in the volatile south.

Full Story Here:
Troop levels reach record high in Afghanistan

Pay special attention to that last line, “Following the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, the U.S. had fewer than 10,000 troops in the country, and no real presence in the volatile south.” because the next line is the payoff, “What has become clear as the insurgency has picked up steam over the last year or two is that an increasing number of forces are needed to clear and hold territory,” said Seth Jones, an analyst who follows Afghanistan for the RAND Corp. “In fact, I think a significant number more are needed. I would like to see those U.S. numbers come up.”…

In my opinion George W. Bush, and his desire to traipse off to Iraq and take on Saddam is the very reason that Afghanistan has escalated once again, we didn’t complete the job we needed to in Afghanistan, we hit the Taliban and we hurt them, but we didn’t destroy them and their capability to wage guerrilla warfare, and all the while the Bush Bots continued to chirp that al-Qaida IS in Iraq, well, YES, they are, NOW, because WE went there and they came to fight US, they were NOT in Iraq before Saddam was deposed…

The Bush Bots cry that al-Qaida IS the reason we went TO Iraq, forgetting that the Senate, Congress and the Defense Department have ALL published reports on their studies that have determined that Saddam had nothing to do with the attacks of 9-11 nor any serious association with al-Qaida or the Taliban…

So, here we go again, we have to go back and do a job all over again, and this time it’s not because the Iraqi army couldn’t hold a position, it’s all because our illustrious leader has the attention span of a 3 year old, and he is NOT smarter than a 5th grader…

Don’t take this the wrong way, I am glad to see our troop buildup in Afghanistan, I was terribly disappointed when troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan to be re-tasked to The Debacle in Iraq, maybe this time our guys will be allowed to do the job they were sent to do, maybe they will be ordered to wipe out the Taliban and al-Qaida once and for all…

Yeah, I know, but a guy can dream can’t he??

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