Another Year At War

AS 2004 draws to a close, our military can be proud. Once again, our troops de feated our enemies, redeemed the mistakes of our civilian leadership and defied the prophets of disaster.

Iraq will shortly hold national elections. Afghanistan is a functioning democracy, despite the critics who claimed the goal was impossible. Islamic terrorists remain on the run, unable to strike our homeland. And the battle with terror in the Middle East has taken a terrible toll on our enemies.

This was a year of major policy errors and deadly challenges. U.S. election requirements conflicted with military necessity. Troop levels were capped too low. Their civilian superiors prevented combat commanders from taking decisive action, fearing that casualties would become a political football. The terrorists and insurgents put down deep roots while our election campaign dragged on.

But our troops always came through for us, no matter the limits imposed upon them. Whenever they were allowed to fight, they won. Our tragic reverses, such as the disastrous First Battle of Fallujah or the initial rounds of fighting in Najaf, resulted from indecision and miscalculations at the highest levels of civilian leadership, not from any military failings.

Throughout the year, commanders and soldiers reinvented warfare under fire. Old doctrine was cast aside in favor of combat techniques suited to a new century. Urban warfare lessons were studied in the field and combat in cities was revolutionized — the triumphant Second Battle of Fallujah shattered every historical precedent.

Commanders grasped the paramount requirement for speed when war must be waged under the scrutiny of the global media. The traditional importance of mass — of having the numbers overwhelmingly on your side — regained respectability. Even civilian decision-makers belatedly recognized that war cannot be waged by garden-party rules.

---> http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/36792.htm

What world do these people live in? :wtf:

They'll be calling off elections next year in the name of "Fighting Terra" I'm sure. :eyes: