Below is the CNN Lou Dobbs link and partial transcript of a short but very revealing interview with an excellent and a very blunt explanation about why military commanders are NOT getting enough troops in Iraq for political reasons and about how that "al Qaeda continues to operate unfettered and get stronger."
This is very well articulated to get the point across to people in my opinion! Here are some of the key points that are made along with the current statistics regarding U.S. troop casualties in Iraq:
WARE: "There's no shadow of a doubt, Lou. It's politics. They obviously can't publicly contradict their commander in chief, but they know that war is never divorced from politics. Things need to appear to be going well on the ground.
As a senior American commander told me not so long ago, it's the big lie. If you ask for something, you're admitting that there's a problem. And in fact, the Marine general tonight who commands Al Anbar province did not say he has enough troops for Anbar province. He said that, under his current mission, he has enough troops. His current mission is defined simply as training Iraqis.
He said, "If my mission changed and I was told to win this insurgency against al Qaeda, then my metrics, my troop levels would have to change."
So, in fact, the Marine commander tonight came out and basically said he does not have enough troops to fight al Qaeda. And while we sit and wait for the Iraqi army to miraculously appear, al Qaeda continues to operate unfettered and get stronger -- Lou."
DOBBS: "Apparently, most Americans who assume the mission is victory are misunderstanding the mission...
Two thousand, six hundred seventy-one of our troops have now been killed in this war. More than 20,000 of our troops have been wounded, 20,113 of them. Of those troops, 9,158 have been seriously wounded.
At the same time, the number of American casualties in Afghanistan is also rising as radical Islamists step up their attacks."
Please forward this on because this is a key message that ALL people need to hear in order to help cut through all of the spin and propaganda in Bush's many political speeches on 9/11, Iraq, and terrorism. The obvious purpose of Bush's speeches is to help get more votes for his GOP rubber stamp candidates running in November!
Mitch Dworkin
http://www.securinga...
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program:
An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda which will help our local candidates to win their races!
http://securingameri...
Gen. Wes Clark's endorsement of Jim Webb against George Allen
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LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
Aired September 12, 2006 - 18:00 ET
J. MCINTYRE: But Lou, reporters embedding with U.S. troops in Iraq constantly hear complaints from lower level officers that they need more troops to complete their mission. It raises the question of why senior commanders don't seem to agree -- Lou.
DOBBS: Jamie, thank you very much. Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon.
About 30,000 of our Marine, soldiers and sailors are fighting Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists in Al Anbar province. Our commanders want to turn over that province to the Iraqi army. But the two Iraqi divisions in Al Anbar are under strength, and they are short of equipment.
Michael Ware has been embedded with U.S. troops in Al Anbar's capital, Ramadi. Michael joins us now from Baghdad.
Michael, is the situation in Al Anbar province as bad as the intelligence report apparently suggests?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lou, it's been this bad at least for at least a year, perhaps two. I mean, the intelligence report is not a revelation at all. It's what intelligence reports have been saying for the last 12 months. It's what military intelligence officers on the ground have been screaming about for over a year.
I mean, I've been going to Al Anbar province in Ramadi and surround since 2003. I mean, nothing has changed. I mean, America is not committed to the fight there. There has not been enough troops there from the beginning. All they're being -- all they're doing is being asked to hold the line. So you're feeding Marines and soldiers into what effectively is an al Qaeda meat grinder.
Meanwhile, al Qaeda's headquarters is there. Military intelligence knows that and doesn't have enough troops to move against it, Lou.
DOBBS: Michael, let me ask you, what is the assessment among the Marine officers, the Army officers there as to why they are not getting the troops that apparently those -- those men on the ground, those commanders on the ground there, say they need and want?
WARE: There's no shadow of a doubt, Lou. It's politics. They obviously can't publicly contradict their commander in chief, but they know that war is never divorced from politics. Things need to appear to be going well on the ground.
As a senior American commander told me not so long ago, it's the big lie. If you ask for something, you're admitting that there's a problem. And in fact, the Marine general tonight who commands Al Anbar province did not say he has enough troops for Anbar province. He said that, under his current mission, he has enough troops. His current mission is defined simply as training Iraqis.
He said, "If my mission changed and I was told to win this insurgency against al Qaeda, then my metrics, my troop levels would have to change."
So, in fact, the Marine commander tonight came out and basically said he does not have enough troops to fight al Qaeda. And while we sit and wait for the Iraqi army to miraculously appear, al Qaeda continues to operate unfettered and get stronger -- Lou.
DOBBS: Michael, thank you very much. Michael Ware reporting from Baghdad.
Apparently, most Americans who assume the mission is victory are misunderstanding the mission.
Today insurgents in Iraq killed one of our Marines in Al Anbar province and one of our soldiers in Baghdad. Two thousand, six hundred seventy-one of our troops have now been killed in this war. More than 20,000 of our troops have been wounded, 20,113 of them. Of those troops, 9,158 have been seriously wounded.
At the same time, the number of American casualties in Afghanistan is also rising as radical Islamists step up their attacks. Two more of our troops have been killed in Afghanistan, one in combat, the other in an accident. Two hundred sixty-five of our troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war started there nearly five years ago.
Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, today made his first official visit to Iran, a country the United States considers a state sponsor of terrorism. The Iraqi prime minister met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad in the Iranian capital of Tehran...
General Affirms Anbar Analysis
But Zilmer Also Cites 'Progress'
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 13, 2006; Page A12
The U.S. commander in western Iraq said he agrees with the findings of a pessimistic classified report recently filed by his top intelligence officer but also insisted that "tremendous progress" is being made in that part of the country.
"I have seen that report and I do concur with that [intelligence] assessment," said Marine Maj. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, speaking to reporters yesterday by telephone from his headquarters near Fallujah, Iraq. He said he found "frank and candid" the analysis by Col. Pete Devlin, the Marine intelligence chief in Iraq, who concluded that prospects for securing Anbar province are dim...