Sept. 12, 2006 - 21:57 MDT

A CRY IN THE WILDERNESS

Things like this gain my attention - - an article by Michael R. Gordon of The New York Times in today's Rocky Mountain News, herein quoted in full:

MARINES CALL FOR HELP

Report: Full division, extra aid needed to secure western Iraq

WASHINGTON -- "The political and security situation in western Iraq is grim and will continue to deteriorate unless the the region receilves a major infusion of aid and a division is sent to reinforce American troops operating there, according to the senior Marine intelligence officer in Iraq."

"The assessment prepared last month by Col. Peter Devlin at the Marine headquarters in Anbar province, has been sent to senior military officials in Iraq and at the Pentagon."

"While the U.S. military is focused on trying to secure Baghdad and prevent strife there from escalating into a civil war, the assessment points to the difficulties in Anbar, a vast Sunni-dominated area where the insurgency is particularly strong."

"The province includes the towns of Ramadi, Haditha and Hit."

"Marine commanders have been mounting a campaign to secure the province in the face of a virulent insurgency."

"But they have had to cope with seriously undermanned Iraqi army units and a Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad that has tended to view the area as a low priority."

"Elements of the assessment were reported Monday in The Washington Post. Military officials familiar with the document dislcosed additional material and provided several quotations from the assessment."

"One factor that has hampered the American counterinsurgency effort has been the limited number of American troops."

"As a general rule, a substantial number of troops are required in a counterinsurgency campaign to protect the population from attacks and intimidation by insurgent groups."

"About 30,000 Marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors are in Anbar, a region roughly the size of Louisiana."

"American forces generally can maneuver where they want and are fighting to regain control of Ramadi, the provincial capital."

"But there are areas where the Americans have not establilshed a visible and persistent presence, the assessment notes."

"Except for a few relativelly bright spots, such as the towns of Fallujah and al-Qaim, the region generally lacks functional governments."

"Without the deployment of an additional division, "there is nothing (the Marine command) can do to influence the motivations of the Sunni to wage an insurgency," the report states, according to a military officer familiar with the assessment."

"A division generally numbers about 16,000 troops."

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Seems like the old unfillable bottomless hole we had in Viet Nam a number of years ago. That was bad enough, but there was not the vicious infighting between different factions of Viet Namese as there is in Iraq.

In Iraq it seems like everybody is fighting everybody else and yet ganging up against the Americans.

Infighting between the Sunni and the Shiite is vicious and the Kurds are in the mix somehow, even if only as victims of each side.

From what I read in other news, the opium crop in Afghanistan is much greater than ever before, the Taliban is growing by leaps and bounds there also.

I don't think the question remains, "Should we be in there ?" But how much longer can we keep pouring humans, money, materiel and ungodly time into that part of the world without sinking ourselves ? And can we pull out in time to save our own country.

And along the way, I can't help but muse about what our military and government money could have done to aid our stricken Gulf Coast and other disaster hassled communities in our own country.

Seems like that Marine assessment is A CRY IN THE WILDERNESS . . . . . . . . . . .

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