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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The problem with the speeches is they get gradually more realistic, but they are still exercises in spin. They don't outline the risks. They don't create a climate where people trust what's being said.
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These are scarcely people you want to integrate into a national force. This would simply create sectarian or ethnic forces or divisions within the forces that already exist.
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And to be perfectly blunt, I think only fools would bet the lives of other men's sons and daughters on their own arrogance and call this force a cakewalk or a speed bump or something that you can dismiss.
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There's so much spin in these numbers. A lot of facts get disguised. . . . Total manpower is meaningless. The army is the key force in direct combat.
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Everything I know about counterterrorism is, you deal with specific cells.
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Even if the constitution clearly wins acceptance by most Shiites and Kurds and some Sunnis, this is only the start of a process, not the end. Even the best outcome of the vote is the prelude to months and years of additional effort.
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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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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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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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I would call it a show of words.