Courtesy of Needlenose (?!?):
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(Belated) cognitive dissonance of the day, 9/14
By Swopa
Sep 14 2006 - 7:55am
I really should have gotten to this New York Times story by Michael
Gordon yesterday:
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The senior Marine commander in Iraq said Tuesday that he had
sufficient forces to carry out his mission but that the mission did
not include defeating the insurgency.
“For what we are trying to achieve out here I think our force levels
are about right,” said Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, who defined his
primary mission as training the Iraqi forces who ultimately would be
responsible for security in the area.
“Now, if that mission statement changes — if there is seen a larger
role for coalition forces out here to win that insurgency fight — then
that is going to change the metrics of what we need out here,” General
Zilmer added.
Translated out of jargon-ese, that means: "If you want us to win,
send more goddamn troops, dammit!"
The article goes on to clarify that even "win" really means "keep our
friggin' heads above water":
The Pentagon arranged the interview after articles in The Washington
Post and The New York Times reported that General Zilmer’s senior
intelligence officer had submitted a grim assessment about the
political and security situation in Iraq.
. . . The classified intelligence assessment, according to military
officials familiar with it, also said that the region would continue
to deteriorate unless there was an infusion of aid and a division was
sent to reinforce General Zilmer’s command, known as MNF-W, for
Multinational Force-West.
In his telephone discussion with reporters, General Zilmer declined to
discuss the specifics of the report but indicated that he agreed with
the intelligence assessment.
And just think, this was in an interview arranged to shore up to
Bushite we're-winning-no-really-we-are domestic propaganda.
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http://www.needlenose.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=b2f911d7e1764aeb8dd71baa00950b50
