# President Bush plans to send Reservists back to Iraq. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 10, 2007, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381 "2007-01-10T05:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/41 "2007-01-10T22:19:15Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] If there aren’t enough troops to fight this piddly little war, then isn’t that telling the world that the US is very weak indeed? All that’s needed to overwhelm the US forces is gumption and resolve? [/QUOTE] Propaganda-wise, that is in fact the message it sends, which shouldn’t exactly comfort this war’s proponents. Because the longer we’re there, the longer it will be before that message is forgotten. In reality, of course, there are different kinds of missions. Our military is primarily designed for wars against the uniformed militaries of other nations, and we’re still the champs there. The problem of course is, after Saddam’s or the Taliban’s army has been vanquished, then you’re in a completely different kind of combat, one which our military and its antecedents haven’t excelled at since Mosby’s Raiders closed up shop. And being the ‘away’ team in this sort of war pretty much means that unless you’re willing to slaughter whole populations to defeat an insurgent enemy, the other side simply has to not lose, a fact not lost on George Washington when the British and Hessians were the ‘away’ team 230 years ago. People who forget this have lost sight of our own history. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/42 "2007-01-10T22:30:04Z")
**Airman Doors** , if Bush as expected announces the “surge” plan tonight, which will require more troops in Iraq, probably National Guard and Reserve troops doing second, third, or even further multiple tours… how long do you figure it will be before we start seeing significant numbers of – well, I’m not sure what the term would be… desertion? refusal to follow orders? derilection of duty? I’m reading about isolated cases like [Lt. Ehren Watada](http://www.komotv.com/news/archive/4188396.html) now, and wondering. Apart from the moral and ethical objections a soldier/sailor/airman/marine might have personally, I know my mom is getting more and more angry thinking that my brother will have to do another tour in Baghdad. Surely there are families whose lives have been much more impacted by these deployments who are a LOT angrier. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/43 "2007-01-10T22:31:56Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] People who forget this have lost sight of our own history. [/QUOTE] I’m not entirely convinced that the particular relevant people (Bush, Cheney, the neocons) who forgot this have ever actually _known_ the implications of that portion of our history… ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/44 "2007-01-10T23:34:17Z")
Bush: “In short, what is required is a complete change in our battle plans.” Cheney: “You look surprised, Blackadder.” Blackadder: “Indeed I am. I didn’t realize we had any battle plans.” Bush: “Of course, man! How else do you think our battles are directed?” Blackadder: “Our battles are _directed?_” ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/45 "2007-01-10T23:50:51Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] No one could have foreseen how much this administration would fuck things up. [/QUOTE] I did! Tris ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/46 "2007-01-11T00:41:00Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] No one could have foreseen how much this administration would fuck things up. [/QUOTE] You mean other than the thousands of us who took to the streets over three years ago to try to stop this, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/47 "2007-01-11T01:12:33Z")
Uh, guys, whoosh? Remember Rice saying “no one could have foreseen” that hijackers could try to fly airliners into buildings? Take care, **Airman**. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/48 "2007-01-11T02:38:17Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] Did he mention what happened to those WMDs? -Joe [/QUOTE] RTF: I really would like to know what he can say about that. He was so positive! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381/49 "2007-01-11T03:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=Fish] Bush: “In short, what is required is a complete change in our battle plans.” Cheney: “You look surprised, Blackadder.” Blackadder: “Indeed I am. I didn’t realize we had any battle plans.” Bush: “Of course, man! How else do you think our battles are directed?” Blackadder: “Our battles are _directed?_” [/QUOTE] Perfect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-bush-plans-to-send-reservists-back-to-iraq/387381.md?page=2)