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PRESIDENT BUSH YOU ARE IN TROUBLE NOW

It pains me greatly to have to say what I am about to say in this article because I truly do not want Hillary Clinton to be our next President. However, as of this moment she is picking out the new White House China and you should be calling the moving companies and start packing your stuff up.

With the organized attack on the United Nations Headquarters and the Kirkuk pipeline, that sends 7 million dollars a day of oil to Turkey, President Bush, your big victory in Iraq is about to turn into a nightmare. Add to this, the big hole blown in the fresh water pipeline to Baghdad and the fact that the people of Baghdad are facing one hundred twenty (120) degrees temperatures; even the people that support us there are going to turn against us.

To make matters worse, the bus bombing in Israel on the same day, now makes your "Road Map to Peace" look like it will fail as well. Now what do you do?

Let me make a humble attempt to offer you some help in getting out of the mess your brain trust has once again put you in. Mr. President, in case your people are telling you that you should not pay any attention to me, because they can provide every service that you will need to succeed, I must take this opportunity for the sake of God and our country, to tell you, that as smart as they all are, they can not possibly guide you safely through the hell hole maze that you are beginning to see in front of your eyes. Well, you ain't seen nothing yet. Why is that? Hillary is coming and you know just how long I've been trying to warn you. Now, we all know that your trusted advisors are being paid big bucks and surely would like to keep their jobs. I even trust that they have a clue about the state of the job market out in the real world where the rest of us exist. President Bush, you have serious responsibilities, the greatest of which is the protection of this country and its people, however to do this, you must first get re-elected.

May I suggest that you start by asking your commanders in the field to give you their assessment of the situation on the ground in Iraq? If you do, they will tell you that the situation in that country has changed. Instead of a group of Hussein loyalists constantly attacking our troops they now have an organized force working to destroy us on two primary fronts. One is that of "Hard Targets," which our troops and installations are protected with force. The second is that of "Soft Targets," installations that are not heavily guarded because they do not provide an immediate gain for the enemy.

By changing to this two (2) pronged offensive plan they now have you in a box. If you want to meet this new strategy effectively, you will have to commit enough troops to protect both types of targets. As you have probably already been told, that would require at least 500,000 of our troops, or coalition troops, on the ground in Iraq. I am certain you have been advised that we do not have a force currently available to complete such a mission. Not to mention the money it would cost to field such a force as well as the fact that the people of this country would never support the increased loss of Americans' lives that would naturally occur as a result of that decision. Please allow me to repeat why this decision would be bad. The more soldiers we have on the ground, the more casualties we will incur. More troops equal more targets provided for the enemy. In addition, that many soldiers on the ground will prove to irritate the people of that country, causing increased resentments and disruptions. The above mentioned is not an option. So if it is not, what would be?

Thankfully, it is actually quite simple. You already have a huge force on the ground in Iraq and all you have to do is to put them to good use. Yes, the Iraqi Republican Guard. Not the special guard Hussein used but the everyday soldiers that they abused, as just bodies in which Iraqi enemies could use their bullets up on. After all, what these guys wanted and needed in the first place was a decent respectable job capable of feeding their families.

Is your brain trust telling you that this would be impossible because it would take too long to train them and cull the bad guys out of their ranks? Mr. President, you really need to tell those guys to take a hike! We don't have to train them like we train our soldiers. All we have to do is tell them where to stand and if anyone comes in front of them, that is not one of them, to shoot. With an army of two (2) million at work for their own country, even if you wanted to guard the Kirkuk pipeline, you could place an Iraqi soldier every ten yards and it would be impossible for anyone to attack it. With this size force both "Hard and Soft Targets" could be protected.

With this type of system in place you will receive an enhanced side benefit. Every time an insurgent kills a soldier, it will be an Iraqi and eventually this will get old and they will stop doing it. They can and will do the job. They are capable. We will just use some good ole Texacans horse sense and let them do it. If we pay them one hundred dollars ($100.00) a month, that would be twice what they have ever been paid and that would be a fraction of what it costs to put an American soldier there doing the same job. Think about it. I promise you I have.

I do not propose that you take all of our soldiers out of Iraq. You should leave a small force on the ground to support the Iraqi Army and to prove to the Iraqi people that we are not leaving them alone and frightened to stop the return of Hussein. If Hussein or any of the Bath party sticks their heads up, our force will be there to take them off.

I recommend that you also change your command structure there from people that are trained in using our weapons and strategy, to those people skilled at using tactics with a less sophisticated army. There are people in this county and around the world that have been trained or have been insurgents against large powerful forces and know what the people attacking us are going to do, before they do it. They will know where and how they will strike and can be the greatest weapon you could bring into that theater.

Mr. Bush, you have made positive accomplishments, however you have great enemies whose goals and ambitions are to destroy the gains you have made. Remember, there lives a dedicated group of skilled mercenaries. I realize how this sounds but this is not the moment in history to get a lump in one's throat for these guys are good and get paid well to risk their lives. They are a better alternative to the solution than using our soldiers. The bad guys are hiring people to fight us; you should hire people to fight them. They can and will be a formable force that will play by the rules of the enemy and will beat them. Use them now!

President Bush, I could go on for a long time about this, but I will not waste anymore of your time or mine or that of my readers' because I doubt your brain trust will let you read this or even talk with you about it. I truly feel bad about that. Hopefully, one of your friends who truly care will get these messages to you.

I guess I can sum it up by saying that what you need more than 500,000 soldiers is to answer this question. Which is better, 500,000 more troops in Iraq or a leader here in this country that knows how to be a true Commander and Chief?

I do want to add one more point for you to think about! You have sent our soldiers into Iraq to remove an evil regime and it is gone. I and everyone else can say, my friend that was a victory. The problem is you did not pledge that this country would take that country on for us to raise. They, meaning the people of Iraq, now have a chance that most people of other countries around the world never get. A chance to be free! But a big part of being free is that they are going to have to fight and even die, if they choose to stay free.

They will have to decide what form of government they want to be ruled by. The more we do to try and force them to adopt the form of government that we want them to have, the more we are proving that they are not really free at all. Let them be free and if they fail at picking the form of government we want them to have, then we need to support the choice they make. If we do not, we will be there for more years than this country is prepared to stay. Especially, when you know the outcome will end up being, they will get the government that they want no matter how many of our soldier's lives and the lives of the Iraqi people it takes to get it.

Sorry, Mr. President, but that's the way I see it! It's your choice now, you can be toast and your career as President will be over in 2004 or you can be the toaster and prove to the world how you answered the earlier question.

Choose wisely!

A NEW DANGER FOR OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ

With the new strategy showing its ugly face in Iraq, our troops are now in real danger. The enemy of our forces and the people of Iraq are starting to attack both "Hard and Soft Targets." As I explained in the first article, hard targets are targets of immediate military value and are therefore are heavily guarded by our troops. Thus, they are hard to attack and that is why they are called "Hard Targets." Our troops, which are on patrol or in convoys, are also considered hard targets and they are considered to be "High Value" targets, as well. "Soft Targets" are of less military importance and are usually easier to attack, because they are not as well defended. That is why they are called "Soft Targets," because they are easier prey. Even though they are easier to attack they do have the ability to cause our troops and/or the Iraqi people lots of trouble.

Since the enemy in Iraq is starting to attack "Soft Targets," which are not as well defended by our troops, how can that make our troops job more dangerous? If our troops are not there defending these "Soft Targets," they should not be hurt or killed, if these targets are attacked.

When planning an operation, you have two (2) principles that must be considered. One is strategic and the other is tactical. Basically strategic means the overall plan and all that goes with getting everything needed to accomplish a mission in place and ready to implement. Tactical is the actual tactics used to accomplish the mission. You may be asking, why is this important to know? If you are able to understand the seriousness of the change of strategy going on by the enemies of the forces attacking our soldiers this is where you must begin.

Any group of loyalist to Saddam Hussein can use tactics that take advantage of our soldiers being vulnerable as they move around on patrol or are stationary at various guard post around the country. Easy to do and does not require a lot of coordination from a central command center. Once you start seeing attacks on the United Nations Headquarters along with those of the Kirkuk oil pipeline and the fresh water pipeline to Baghdad, it becomes obvious that someone somewhere is doing some strategic planning and event coordination. This is very bad news for our troops and our overall goal of re-building Iraq.

Here is how it will work and how it will put our troops in incredible danger. It revolves around a little known strategic plan that involves simple but deadly tactics. It is called journey and destination.

At the present our troops move around on patrol ready and wired to be attacked at any moment. Once attacked, they are trained to immediately fall out of their vehicle and set up a perimeter. Sight the location of the incoming fire and immediately return fire and hopefully destroy the enemy. Sound tough, well it is and it is scary because you have to be able to re-act in a split second or someone dies. This system is designed to fortify or protect the journey. However, imagine now what our troops must prepare for with the threat of a change of strategy by our enemy.

The enemy now can start attacking "Soft Targets" and force our troops to rush to help the installation being attacked. Now our troops will be headed for a destination at break neck speed and that makes our troops vulnerable on their way to the location. Basically, all the enemy does is strike a "Soft Target" and make it the bait to draw our troops into an ambush on the way. This trick works and it is incredibly deadly. That is the problem.

To plan for the game the enemy is now using, requires some form of a command and control structure by our leaders and that means trouble for our troops. Just because the enemy does not have the sophisticated communication systems we do, does not mean they can not communicate with their forces in the field. For there to be two (2) attacks on the same day in two (2) different countries, the United Nations Headquarters in Iraq and the bus in Israel, means that the enemy is being well coordinated, unless of course, it was just an accident that both happened on the same day. The stakes are far too high to gamble on these attacks being that of chance.

Truly, the real war in Iraq is now starting and it is going to be very ugly and incredibly dangerous for our troops. Now you know why!

See You Next Week and May God Bless,

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

For one to be successful in life, one must first be willing to do something to obtain that achievement. More importantly one must actually take the risk that is necessary to obtain that achievement.

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