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Dealing with the Iraq Insurgency Militarily

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Great article I found through scripsit blog.

What I thought was a very nice analysis of the situation in Iraq and paths out of it, by Col. Tom Snodgrass. Well reasoned, and well constructed argument for kickin' their asses.

(Oh, and thanks to SN for sharing his OPML RSS file. There's gold in them thar hills! I'm still working my way through it SN.)

Edited by KendallJ
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One of the troubles of securing borders from terrorists from Iran is that it is extremely difficult to point that back towards the Iranian government. India has been trying to do that for years against Pakistani sponsored terrorists in Kashmir and the rest of the country.

You should read this other piece from Snodgrass: http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/01/post.html

We'll never be able to stop the resupply from Iran and Syria while we follow a limited war doctrine.

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Great article. Thanks for posting it. Snodgrass hits the nail on the head when he identifies the path to victory. Unfortunately, I don't think the Bushies have the political will to take the necessary steps.

Exactly. This is why I was interested int he article. I am trying to validate or scrap Tracinski's claim of how philosophy is used to affect history.

Here is an example where an expert in a specific field has used reason to induce the proper principles by which to continue prosecution of the war, which would seem to bolster his assertion. However, your observation is spot on, and this is where Tracinski gets it wrong. At the strategic level, philosophy is intimately involved in the integration and decision making process.

Contrary to Tracinski's assertion, it does not matter what our scientists of war are able to arrive at, the policy makers have the wrong philosophical integrations guiding their decisions.

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I like a lot of the things I've read from Tracinski, but I think he's wrong here. Aside from his seeming denial of the power of philosophy, it's almost as if he believes Objectivism contends that philosophy is cut off from reality as it is revealed to us through the special sciences. Of course, that isn't the case and I'm a bit surprised at his misinterpretation.

btw, Melanie Philips understands that this war can't be won without confronting the Iranians.

http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1429

A troop surge that isn't accompanied by a cut-off of the Iranian resupply efforts isn't going to do much but delay the inevitable.

Edited by gags
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