Al Qaeda, Feeding Iraqi Families

Forgive the redundancy, but I can't seem to find a corroborative "Al Qaeda boy bake" story which doesn't originate from Little Green Footballs neoconservative Michael Yon or isn't repeated by a neoconservative such as Michael Ledeen. If anyone has anything that can demonstrate that this is something other than neoconservative propaganda to keep you 30% supporting this war, I would desire to review it.

 

All of them are following orders.

All of them volunteered to do so.

It's also likely that all of them understand what they are doing more than you give them credit for.

They are not the victims you make them out to be and would not appreciate your condescension.

 

It's a large force so it would be natural that large numbers would reenlist. It would appear that the Army is meeting their goals...

DoD News Briefing with Col. Daniel Ball from the Pentagon

"The Army's meeting its reenlistment goals, and one of those reasons is, when a soldier deploys, he gets to do what he's trained to do. And our mechanics that work on our aircraft love it. That's what they like doing. And if you put a wrench in their hand, these young soldiers can fix just about anything. ​

However, the Marines are not fairing as well...

Corps plans re-enlistment bonus overhaul

"Despite a series of drastic policy changes intended to boost the number of Marines who decide to stay green, the Corps’ retention effort “is not progressing according to plan,” the Corps’ top officer wrote in a May 17 letter to his generals."​

Recruitment objectives are being missed...

Army misses recruiting goal for 2nd month


And thousands are deserting...
U.S. Army revises upward the number of desertions

As to the mission they are trying to accomplish, can you provide specific actionable criteria for what that is?

 

Would it change your mind about what we are doing in Iraq if the story was corroborated by a so called "main stream media" outlet?

 

All of them are not.

 

Of course they are.

If they are in Iraq, they had orders to go there.

 

Re-enlistment numbers are up considerably over what they were, but the goalposts were moved.


"However, a May 3 MarAdmin message illustrates the problem. The goal for re-enlisting first-term Marines jumped from 6,096 in October to 8,298 in March. The number of career Marines needed to re-enlist increased from 6,461 to 7,800."

Not exactly making the point you had hoped for.

 

It would be nice if it was corroborated by someone other than your neocon buddies. The story is absurd, so I'll take whatever you've got that isn't little, green or made out of pigskin before I begin to believe there is any merit to it.

 

Is desertion following orders?

 

Thank you. :thumbs:

 

How many soldiers in Iraq have deserted?

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by carpro
Would it change your mind about what we are doing in Iraq if the story was corroborated by a so called "main stream media" outlet?

Since you avoided answering the question, I assume your answer is no.

So it really doesn't matter whether you believe it or not.

We already know that alqaeda has executed Iraqi children by beheading. It's only a small step to cooking one for the sheer terroristic value, if nothing else.

 

I doubt many desert when they're in the desert.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by carpro
How many soldiers in Iraq have deserted?

You have successfully refuted your own point.

 

As I understand it, they typically desert when they are on leave.

 

As deserters always have.

Even so, the numbers (less that 1%) are miniscule compared to WWII, Korea, and Vietnam.

http://www.answers.com/topic/desertion?cat=biz-fin

In World War II, desertion rates reached 6.3 percent of the armed forces in 1944, and during the American reverses at the Battle of the Bulge, the army executed one American soldier, Private Ernie Slovik, for desertion in the face of the enemy as an example to other troops. Desertion rates dropped to 4.5 percent in 1945. During the Korean War, the use of short‐term service and the rotation system helped keep desertion rates down to 1.4 percent of the armed forces in fiscal year (FY) 1951 and to 2.2 percent or 31,041 in FY 1953.

The divisive Vietnam War generated the highest percentage of wartime desertion since the Civil War. From 13,177 cases—or 1.6 percent of the armed forces—in FY 1965, the annual desertion statistics mounted to 2.9 percent in FY 1968, 4.2 percent in FY 1969, 5.2 percent in FY 1970, and 7.4 percent (79,027 incidents of desertion) in FY 1971. Like the draft resisters from this same war, many deserters sought sanctuary in Canada, Mexico, or Sweden. In 1974, the Defense Department reported that between 1 July 1966 and 31 December 1973, there had been 503,926 incidents of desertion in all services during the Vietnam War.

 

Serious question. Why should a free and democratic Iraq be definitely in our national interest ?

 

What if they freely and democraticaly decide they don't want us there, do we re-liberate them?

 

Simple.

We leave.

They're on their own.

 

In 2004:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-04-28-poll-cover_x.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5217874/site/newsweek/

In 2006:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/26/AR2006092601721.html


We ain't goin' anywhere..... [sic]