US May Reassign Iraq Staff for Security

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=15&u=/ap/20031029/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq

<snip>
WASHINGTON - As violence has spiraled in Iraq (news - web sites), top U.S. officials have debated pulling intelligence officers off the so-far unsuccessful hunt for weapons of mass destruction and reassigning them to counterinsurgency efforts, officials said
The United States already is planning to recruit more Iraqis to gather information about opposition fighters and may increase security measures to protect troops, President Bush (news - web sites) said Tuesday, the third straight day of bombings in Iraq.

But Pentagon (news - web sites), CIA (news - web sites) and other top officials have not been able to agree on whether to reassign some of the 1,400 people working on the weapons search, three officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday.

[OKNancy]

1. Quagmire

Nothing to add, it is just so obvious.
What a mess.

[salin]

4. and two of their own making.

one is the obvious - the deteriorating conditions on the ground.

The other is the political one they created - by knowingly stretching information and making known false or exagerated claims (ostensibly because their ideology led them to believe it - so some did so honestly, others I suspect did so for political expediency - knowing it was the only argument that would convince the public to go along.) With no results thus far (and none likely to come) giving up gives the appearance that the critics were correct (there were no WMD - esp not the nuke kind they kept terrorizing our public with). So one group (the political ones) want to keep the search going. Though how long can they keep going with no finds? Would this not make things worse in the long run for them politically? (tough call for those political opportunists...) Meanwhile to keep so many resources devoted to the snipehunt - isn't really wise, especially when there is an appearance (based in reality, imo) that those providing security are grossly undermanned.

[RedEarth]

2. Didn't bush want 600 million more for the wmd search

I wonder where that money will go now. Maybe just straight to Haliburton. So tragic and such a waste.

[Spazito]

3. If this happens, be prepared for the White House line....

saying the WMD are still out there but, geesh, they had to "temporarily" reassign those looking for them but, don't worry, we will get back to the search in due time.

[saigon68]

5. A SNIPE HUNT

As a kid at camp, we used to send the tender foots out on a snipe hunt.

WELCOME TO SNIPE HUNT IRAQ-NAM

[salin]

6. just goes to show

great minds - see the same thing (indeed - the terms flowed out of my fingers in my earlier post... ) All at once now: Snipe Hunt!

[Maeve]

9. I asked as well--snipe hunt vs saving lives

Gee, how big a decision is THAT?

[VaLabor]

7. Yeah

The WMD snipe hunt is probably one of the most tragically farcical elements of this Iraq disaster.

The fact that they keep up this front by actually assigning over 1,000 people to look for the long-destroyed WMDs is comical.

But they've painted themselves into a corner.

If they continue to claim they were telling the truth when they said there were WMDs - they CANNOT justify taking ANYONE off of this snipe hunt. Why not? Because Iraq is now being overrun by foreign terrorists with Al Qaeda connections. We HAVE to find the WMDs before these terrorists do.

If they pull significant numbers off the snipe hunt, it's an acknowledgment there are no significant WMDs in Iraq after all.

[TacticalPeek]

13. "painted themselves into a corner"

These search crews should carry buckets of paint and brushes with them and paint everything in Iraq that's not moving, an old military tradition. That way at least there will be something to show for all our bucks going down the drain on this particular aspect of the Great Misadventure. Painting everything that does not move is SOP for personnel with time on their hands and nothing to do.

[underpants]

14. Pre-war several DU'ers expressed concern about just that

As the PNAC'er said it is in a great strategic spot IF you completely control it. But many here (I don't know if you saw it) thought that without complete control our guys could be surrounded. Yes we have dominating air power but we could find ourselves with no way out. I of course hope that isn't the case but they have indeed painted themselves in a corner.

OD=Over Dirt. Yes painted is one of those fine military traditions.

[VolcanoJen]

8. Kick!

:dem:

[stickdog]

10. These troops can now be used far more effectively hunting for unicorns

or the real killers of OJ's ex-wife.

[underpants]

11. The security of what? The WMD (not) ? the ammo dumps?

It has to be someTHING as we know things are going just so swimmingly over there. Just last night two American soldiers gave their lives illustrating how well things are going and how desperated the TERRORISTS are.

:grr::mad::grr:

[Snellius]

12. Bush is endangering American GIs to save his political neck

At this point who cares whether there are any WMDs or not. Saddam obviously didn't use them. They obviously were not a threat. The only reason to keep looking for them -- diverting precious intelligence resources from protecting our troops and bringing order to Iraq --, the only reason to keep looking for them, is to save Bush's political ass.