"On the military side, we see a real problem"

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

David Harvey:
On the military side, we see a real problem. What we see is that 
technologically, the U.S. can dominate almost anything now from 30,000 feet 
up. But if you are into occupying a place like Iraq on the ground, 
dominating the world from 30,000 feet up with high technology is just not 
going to work. You need massive ground forces. Already, the United States 
is running out of forces to keep on the ground. It's trying to construct, 
in effect, a mercenary force by paying for Polish troops to be there, 
paying for twenty people to be there from Lithuania, or Estonia, or 
wherever. It's trying to construct almost a mercenary army because it 
doesn't have, as it were, the military power on the ground. What we're 
seeing is an overstretching of military manpower right now, which is a 
crucial problem that can't be resolved by this tremendous emphasis upon 
technological advantage.

full: http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people4/Harvey/harvey-con4.html

===

NY Times, June 13, 2005
As Iraqi Army Trains, Word in the Field Is It May Take Years
By SABRINA TAVERNISE and JOHN F. BURNS

MAHMUDIYA, Iraq - A small but telling test of Iraq's fledgling army came 
recently in this troubled farm town south of Baghdad, when a group of Iraqi 
soldiers, ending a house raid and rushing to board pickups they use as 
troop carriers, abandoned the blindfolded, handcuffed man they had come to 
arrest.

"They left the detainee," an astonished American soldier said, spotting the 
man squatting in the dust along a residential street. "They just left him 
there. Sweet."

The Iraqi troops were on their seventh house raid of the morning, part of a 
cordon-and-search operation in an area of towns and farmland so dangerous 
that American soldiers call it the Triangle of Death. Prompted by the 
soldier, the Iraqis ran back for the detainee, and managed much of the rest 
of their mission effectively, rounding up 13 insurgent suspects in three 
hours without having to call for direct involvement of the watching 
American troops.

Such limited successes stand against a backdrop of American disappointment 
with many of the Iraqi units, whose effectiveness is crucial to a future 
American troop withdrawal.

Despite the Bush administration's insistent optimism, Americans working 
with the Iraqis in the field believe that it could be several years, at 
least, before the new Iraqi forces will be ready to stand alone against the 
insurgents.

full: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/international/middleeast/13training.html

===

NY Times, June 11, 2005
Army Recruiting More High School Dropouts to Meet Goals
By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, June 10 - The Army is having to turn to more high school 
dropouts and lower-achieving applicants to fill its ranks, accepting 
hundreds of recruits in recent months who would have been rejected a year 
ago, according to Army statistics.

Eight months into the recruiting year, the percentage of new recruits in 
the Army without a high school diploma has risen to 10 percent, the upper 
limit of what the Army is willing to accept, from 8 percent last year. The 
percentage of recruits with scores in the lowest acceptable range on the 
standardized test used to screen potential soldiers has also risen to 2 
percent, also reaching the Army's limit, from slightly more than a 
half-percent last year, reaching the highest level since 2001.

The number of lower-achieving recruits is a relatively small part of the 
more than 41,000 recruits who have signed an enlistment contract or entered 
basic training since October. Officials emphasized that this year's 
recruits still met or exceeded the Army's quality goals, and that the 
service would not lower its standards to meet its overall enlistment target 
of 80,000 recruits.

But as the Army formally announced Friday that it had missed its recruiting 
goal for the fourth consecutive month, military personnel specialists said 
the profile of this year's enlistees raised questions about recruit 
quality, and whether the Army would fail to reach its annual recruiting 
goal for the first time since 1999.

"The overall quality of the force today is lower than it was a year ago," 
said David R. Segal, who directs the Center for Research on Military 
Organization at the University of Maryland. "It means they can anticipate 
more problem situations with recruits in the training cycle."

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/politics/11recruit.html

===

USA Today, June 13, 2005
Poll: USA is losing patience on Iraq
By Susan Page

WASHINGTON ? Nearly six in 10 Americans say the United States should 
withdraw some or all of its troops from Iraq, a new Gallup Poll finds, the 
most downbeat view of the war since it began in 2003.

Patience for the war has dropped sharply as optimism about the Iraqi 
elections in January has ebbed and violence against U.S. troops hasn't 
abated. For the first time, a majority would be "upset" if President Bush 
sent more troops. A new low, 36%, say troop levels should be maintained or 
increased.

The souring of public opinion presents challenges for the president, who 
has vowed to stay the course until democracy is established and Iraqi 
forces can ensure security. He hasn't suggested sending more U.S. troops.

"We have reached a tipping point," says Ronald Spector, a military 
historian at George Washington University. "Even some of those who thought 
it was a great idea to get rid of Saddam (Hussein) are saying, 'I want our 
troops home.' "

The pattern of public opinion on Iraq ? strong support for the first two 
years that then erodes ? is reminiscent of the Korean and Vietnam 
conflicts, he says.

White House spokesman David Almacy, asked about the poll, said it was 
"vital" for U.S. peace and security that "we complete the mission by 
training Iraqis to provide for their own security, and then our troops can 
return home with the honor they have earned."

Bush's approval-disapproval rating was 47%-49%, a tick worse than it was 
two weeks earlier but in the same range it has been for a year.

The poll is consistent with other recent surveys that show growing concern 
about the war. In an ABC News-Washington Post poll last week, two-thirds 
said the U.S. military was bogged down in Iraq, and nearly three-quarters 
called the casualty level unacceptable.

Bush says progress has been made in fighting the insurgency and training 
Iraqi forces, but the administration hasn't set a timetable for the 
withdrawal of nearly 140,000 U.S. troops. The Defense Department said 
Friday that 1,293 Americans have been killed in hostile action.

In the Gallup Poll, 56% say the Iraq war wasn't "worth it," essentially 
matching the high-water mark of 57% a month ago.

? Of those who say the war wasn't worth it, the top reasons cited are 
fraudulent claims and no weapons of mass destruction found; the number of 
people killed and wounded; and the belief that Iraq posed no threat to the 
United States.

? Of the 42% who say the war was worth it, the top reasons cited are the 
Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the need to stop terrorism and a 
desire to end the oppression of the Iraqi people.

Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations 
Committee, said on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that an "incredible gap 
between the reality on the ground and the rhetoric back here" is costing 
Bush support on the war.

On ABC's This Week, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., an ardent supporter of the 
invasion, called on Bush for a timetable for withdrawing troops. "I feel 
that we have done about as much as we can do," he said.

===

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania), June 13, 2005
TOP OFFICERS IN IRAQ LOSING FAITH IN MILITARY SOLUTION U.S. BRASS SEE IRAQI 
POLITICS AS THE WAY OUT
by Tom Lasseter

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A growing number of senior American military officers in 
Iraq have concluded that there is no long-term military solution to an 
insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 U.S. 
troops during the past two years.

Instead, officers say, the only way to end the guerrilla war is through 
Iraqi politics -- an arena that so far has been crippled by divisions 
between Shiite Muslims, whose coalition dominated the January elections, 
and Sunni Muslims, who are a minority in Iraq but form the base of support 
for the insurgency.

"I think the more accurate way to approach this right now is to concede 
that ... this insurgency is not going to be settled, the terrorists and the 
terrorism in Iraq is not going to be settled, through military options or 
military operations," Brig. Gen. Donald Alston, the chief U.S. military 
spokesman in Iraq, said last week, in a comment that echoes what other 
senior officers say. "It's going to be settled in the political process."

Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, expressed similar 
sentiments, calling the military's efforts "the Pillsbury Doughboy idea" -- 
pressing the insurgency in one area only causes it to rise elsewhere.

"Like in Baghdad," Casey said during an interview with two newspaper 
reporters, including one from Knight Ridder, last week. "We push in Baghdad 
-- they're down to about less than a car bomb a day in Baghdad over the 
last week -- but in north-center (Iraq) ... they've gone up," he said. "The 
political process will be the decisive element."

The recognition that a military solution is not in the offing has led U.S. 
and Iraqi officials to signal they are willing to negotiate with insurgent 
groups, or their intermediaries.

"It has evolved in the course of normal business," said a senior U.S. 
diplomatic official in Baghdad, who spoke on the condition of anonymity 
because of U.S. policy to defer to the Iraqi government on Iraqi political 
matters. "We have now encountered people who at least claim to have some 
form of a relationship with the insurgency."

The message is markedly different from previous statements by U.S. 
officials who spoke of quashing the insurgency by rounding up or killing 
"dead enders" loyal to former dictator Saddam Hussein. As recently as two 
weeks ago, in a Memorial Day interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Vice 
President Dick Cheney said he believed the insurgency was in its "last throes."

But the violence has continued unabated, even though 44 of the 55 Iraqis 
portrayed in the military's famous "deck of cards" have been killed or 
captured, including Saddam.

Lt. Col. Frederick P. Wellman, who works with the task force overseeing the 
training of Iraqi security troops, said the insurgency doesn't seem to be 
running out of new recruits, a dynamic fueled by tribal members seeking 
revenge for relatives killed in fighting.

"We can't kill them all," Wellman said. "When I kill one I create three."

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