LtGen. Odom: "Stay the course" = feeding forces they think they're against

Good discussion with Lt. Gen. Odom on Lehrer NewsHour. So nice to see people speak English rather than Newspeak once in a while.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/july-dec05/iraq_11-21.html


LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM (Ret.): So this notion that you stay in longer in order to reach something you couldn't reach early on is simply an unwillingness to face the realities.

:patriot: 

DEBATING IRAQ WAR STRATEGY

November 21, 2005
Democratic U.S. Rep. John Murtha's speech calling for the U.S. to withdraw troops from Iraq in the next six months added fire to the debate over the Bush administration's strategy in the war on terror. Two experts discuss how Murtha's plan would affect the situation on the ground.


 
Experts debate withdrawal
RAY SUAREZ: Two views now on Congressman Murtha's get out of Iraq proposal. Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Bernard Trainor who is co-authoring a book on the inside story of the Iraq war, and retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, his latest book is "America's Inadvertent Empire."

<snip>

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM (Ret.):
People are becoming more and more aware of that it is not in our interest to be there. And the unfortunate thing about the debate is a refusal to go back and look at the war aims and look at whose interests were really served best. It is clear that Iran's interests were served by our invasion and that al-Qaida's interests because it could not break there until we came in. If we were to get out fairly precipitously, you can bet al-Qaida will be run out, too. They don't operate in the Kurdish area now, and the Shiites and the Iranians hate the al-Qaida.

<snip>

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM (Ret.):
The problem is not training security forces; the problem is political consolidation and it is not taking place. Gen. Trainor mentioned the danger of civil war there. We have a civil war now. The only thing that the U.S. withdrawal will change is the configuration of that war to some degree. It will probably not be as bad and as long as we thought, or as predicted.

<snip>

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM (Ret.):
Most of the things he has said will happen and others have said will happen were inevitable the minute we invaded and staying longer won't make them not inevitable. We're going to have to pay the price of accepting these consequences. They were eminently foreseeable and the longer we put it off, the bigger the price we will pay, and the longer it will take us to restore some kind of alliance effort for the larger region. Those people who want to stay the course now are just, in my view, very much feeding the forces they think they are against al-Qaida and other radical movements in the region. The quicker we get out, the quicker it will re-stabilize and the quicker we will have an option to do something about it with true allies as opposed to those we paid to come and join the coalition.

:kick:



An older discussion with Lt. Gen. Odom

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june04/prospects_5-10.html

WINNING AND LOSING

May 10, 2004

Between a growing prisoner abuse scandal and continued clashes between insurgents and coalition forces, some say the U.S.-led war in Iraq is facing major challenges to any successful military conclusion. Margaret Warner gets three perspectives on coalition progress and what steps the military should take next.
 
MARGARET WARNER: Joining me to discuss the military prospects in Iraq are retired Army Lt. General William Odom, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. His latest book is "America's Inadvertent Empire." Retired Marine Corps Lt. General Bernard Trainor, an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and co-author of "The Generals' War," a book about the 1991 Gulf War, and Larry Diamond, a former political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. He left that post last month. He's a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Online NewsHour Special Report:
Iraq in Transition

Nov. 18, 2005
Political analysts discuss the debate about the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

Nov. 17, 2005
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. called for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq

Nov. 16, 2005:
Sunnis in Iraq requested an international inquiry into claims that Shiite forces abused suspected insurgents


Nov. 15, 2005:
Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi defends Iraqi invasion and outlines road ahead.

Nov. 15, 2005:
Two senior senators discuss how best to outline an exit strategy from Iraq.

Nov. 7, 2005: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace discusses the U.S.-led operation to root out insurgents in Iraq.

Oct. 25, 2005:
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad discusses the next steps.

Oct. 19, 2005:
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testifies to the Senate about U.S. policy in the Middle East

Oct. 14, 2005:
Middle East experts debate the Iraq referendum's importance to peace and stability.

Oct. 12, 2005:
Iraqi leaders reach deal on draft constitution.

Sept. 15, 2005:
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani discusses the latest violence in his country and the possibility of a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops.

:patriot:

I rarely watch any other news programs.

"Most of the things he has said will happen and others have said will happen were inevitable the minute we invaded and staying longer won't make them not inevitable."

:kick: