Generational Dynamics World View

[Cynic Hero '86]

(04-16-2017, 02:35 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote:

(04-16-2017, 01:40 PM)Cynic Hero Wrote: >   The Houthis have direct backing from Iran, that support allows
>   insurgents and militias to hold on. The Taliban had no such
>   support, the Iraqi insurgents did not having backing either at
>   first but did have backing from Iraq's neighbors who did not want
>   to see a permanent US military position in Iraq from 2004 onwards,
>   not suprisingly that is precisely when the insurgents became much
>   more dangerous to our forces.  

The Pashtuns in Afghanistan were (and are) receiving support
from the Pashtuns in Pakistan.

John X , how do you explain the fact that the Iraqi forces collapsed like a house of cards in both 1991 and in 2003? How do you explain the defeat of Noriega's forces in 1989? There is also the fact that the most difficult period of the Iraq war from (2004 to 2007) occurred precisely because the US did not have sufficient forces on the ground and also the fact that the Sunnis had been excluded from the government. Things improved rapidly after 2007 when more troops were added and the Sunnis were allowed into the government although the true fanatics among the insurgents fled into the desert and joined what eventually became ISIS.