isis

[icenine]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

Ice, when we had "100,000" troops in Iraq, how many were in combat maneuver batallions not committed to static defense? My bet is 5000 maybe, likely less.

Well you maybe are missing a point. There were a lot of service members killed on convoys...those soldiers who would have been in the old days "in the rear with the gear". In other words getting killed by an IED or a mortar can happen to anyone in the theater. Of course those infantry at the front lines ("tip of the spear") had it dangerous too...especially in both Fallujah campains in 2004 and in the surge months of 2007.

And I was not thinking of only American deaths....during the war thousands of Iraqi civilians were getting killed by bombs, sectarian violence, etc. despite our presence. Iraq is about as big as California or Texas (as large as an American state in other words) and we had only about 100,000 troops there, most of which as you are correct in stating had static roles i.e. logistical or base security. However to say we controlled the country is not true...we only controlled the US bases we were on. Travel between bases was usually done by air since road travel was an invitation for an IED.

In 2004 an American could not travel unless in a helicopter or a military convoy armed to the teeth.

In 2014 getting rid of ISIS without troops on the ground would be a good objective. Do not know if that is possible or not. I would be for blowing them up in the open desert should the opportunity arise. This may be something that has to be dealt with whether we want to get involved or not. And our allies need to stop waiting for us to do everything.