Surge mentality
In light of the troop numbers that "standard" counterinsurgency theory would call for in Iraq (on the order of a Shinseki-like 400,000), the much-discussed "surge" deployment of 20,000 to 35,000 additional soldiers sounds positively trivial. It's fine to say that you go to war with the army you have, but only once you've decided it makes sense to go to war at all with such an army. Most of the time, the sensible thing to do is figure out what resources you will need to accomplish something, then decide if the resources you have available are sufficient. It doesn't sound like we have the resources available to do this right. I'm not sure why Sen. McCain thinks adding 20,000 to 35,000 additional troops is going to fundamentally change the character of a situation that in
August he likened to "a game of Whack A Mole."
If some start-up company approached you and said "you're our only prospective investor and we need $2 million to get the business up and running," I don't think your response would be "well, I don't have that much but here's my last $50,000 for you to piss away over the next few months." That would be irrational.
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