Anthony Cordesman
Anthony Cordesman
Anthony H. Cordesmanholds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studiesand is a national security analyst on a number of global conflicts...
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Ulster (Northern Ireland) and the Balkans have already shown how difficult it is to split cities, and with Iraq's centralized and failing infrastructure, and impoverished economy, violence and economics cannot be separated.
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We essentially used a bull to liberate a china shop.
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You are dealing with an unproven prime minister. It's the beginning of a very contentious process. It's very unlikely that all of these issues are going to get resolved by the end of the year.
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Usually they'll place an array of explosives locked to a single infrared sensor, ... What you get is an array of shaped charges, so you're not going to get hit with just one.
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will end in snatching defeat from the jaws of uncertainty.
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You can both vote and hold a rifle.
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We need to understand that this is a warning, ... Over the next few months we're going to see a referendum on a constitution that's going to trigger more debates on Shiite identity ... The idea that the constitution or referendum is going to clear this up is unrealistic.
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The problem is people don't live on economic statistics.
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We don't know how many leaders there are, how many experienced cadres there are, how many replacements there are.
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If you pull troops out too quickly now, and you see the situation in Iraq collapse before the midterm elections, the impact is going to be far more serious than if you keep the troops in at reasonable levels.
collapse far impact iraq pull quickly reasonable serious situation troops
If you pull out troops too quickly now, and you see the situation in Iraq collapse before the midterm elections, the impact is going to be far more serious than if you keep the troops in at reasonable levels.
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Iraq might be a far easier opponent than its force strengths indicate. But it also is potentially a very serious military opponent indeed,
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The best thing we can do is to make sure that our training helps them to create truly national military forces and truly national police forces because that then takes away any sense that one needs militias to provide security.
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It's an essential part of the broader strategy. But you won't have a situation where Iraqi battalions come on line and U.S. troops leave the next week.