Murtha on the difference between terrorism and insurgency

[BurtWorm]

Very, very interesting... :popcorn:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/07/AR2005120701588_pf.html

Now, let me tell you the major problem we have. You heard the president talk today about terrorism. Every other word was "terrorism."

Let me separate terrorism from insurgency. When I was in Iraq in 1991, president -- or King Fahd said to me -- this was an early morning meeting, like two or three o'clock in the morning, when he normally met with people during the air war.

And he said: Get your troops out of Saudi Arabia the minute this war's over. You're on sacred ground. You're destabilizing the whole region. I reported that back to the State Department and, as you know, we didn't get our troops out of there. We left our troops there.

Bin Laden said he attacked the United States because of the troops in Saudi Arabia. That's terrorism. Terrorism was in London. Terrorism was in Spain. Terrorism was, obviously, in the United States.

MURTHA: That's completely separate from what's going on in Iraq. Iraq is an insurgency. At one of the hearings early on, Secretary Rumsfeld denied there was an insurgency. He said it was a gang of something or another. But they wouldn't admit that they were having real problems over there. They kept being unrealistic, illusionary about what was going on in Iraq.

One of the major problems we have in fighting an insurgency is the military and the way they fight. And I adhere to the way they fight. They send in massive force. They use artillery, they use air and mortars. And they kill a lot of people in order to suppress fire and protect our military. I'm for that.

But it doesn't make you any friends. That's part of the problem. For instance, in Fallujah, which happened about the same time -- the first Fallujah happened about the same time as Abu Ghraib -- we put 150,000 people outside their homes in Fallujah.

If you remember in Jordan, the bomber said that the reason she became a bomber was because two of her relatives were killed in Fallujah. We lost the hearts and minds of the people.

Hamre said: You've got three months to win the hearts and minds of the people, to get this under control, to get the looting and so forth under control.

We didn't do that. There's been poor planning from the start by the Defense Department. The Defense Department fought to keep this planning under their control. State Department had entirely different reasons for wanting it. And we even voted in the House to give it to the State Department.

And finally, in conference, we had to agree to let the president make the decision. He made the decision to give it to the Defense Department.

Now, in an insurgency and nation-building -- what did President Bush say when he ran for office the first time? "We are not into nation-building. And we're not into nation-building because of the way our military has to operate." It's that simple. We've got to go in and level the place, destroy a place. And when we destroy a place, we lose the very thing that's absolutely essential to winning the insurgency.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Bush and Co didn't get Iraq under control

because THEY DON'T WANT IRAQ TO BE UNDER CONTROL.

They wanted to fuel an insurgency in order to perpetuate their excuses for perpetual war. That is why they continue on the same course and refuse to do anything that might bring calm and security to the people of Iraq.

[sui generis]

2. go Murtha go!

I would add that when we fight a war between two equally matched powers, it's called a war. When one of the powers is very poorly organized and can't fight back, it's called an invasion. When they do fight back, it's called an insurgency. This is not rocket science.

If a nation lobs a bomb at another nation, it is called a war.

If a small group of people lob a bomb at another nation, it is called terrorism.

If a nation lobs a bomb at a small group of people, it's called a police action, not a war.

If a police action costs 200 billion dollars a year and thousands of U.S. military lives and tens of thousands of civilian lives, it's not a police action, it's a waste of money and lives. IT'S NOT WORTH IT.

_________________________-
I find it ironic that these ugly fourth graders who call themselves our administration EVER had the cojones to suggest that the adults are in charge now. These are the kind of adults that end up losing the farm, the house, and the kids because they suck at being adult. It is time to send these so called self-described "adults" packing.