Pentagon Solves the Riddle

Increased American casualities due to IED's may soon be a thing of the past.  The Pentagon has unravelled the mystery of defeating the insurgency.  Quite simple really, it's all in the stars.  

This revelation either speaks to incompetence, or more probably the ineffective ability of the military to deal with IED's:

In Washington, Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, the operations officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Pentagon is looking into placing a higher-level general in charge of a task force that has been studying ways to reduce the threat of remotely detonated bombs.

"The decision has not been made, but it has been discussed -- that perhaps adding a three-star oversight to the effort might further enhance its ability to get things done," Conway said at a news briefing with Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita.

"This whole effort to defeat IEDs is one of the most important things that's taking place" at the Pentagon, Conway said.

So, the problem of IED's is simply a function of military rank.  A one star general is clearly not enough to "get the job done", so the Pentagon has come to the conclusion that some more shine to the uniform will break the insurgents.  Is this how ridiculous things have become?

Yes, the IED's have become more deadly and sophisticated, but this issue is not a new one and our inability to stop these attacks speaks to the nature of the problem.  We are in a tragic dance with the insurgency, they up the ante, we respond in kind and the cycle continues.  This latest move by the Pentagon is more a statement of exasperation than it is serious military determination.

The height of understatement:

Conway said: "It's the only tool the enemy really has left in order to be able to take us on and cause casualties. And when we defeat that one method, you know, it's over."

Sounds great, but then Conway contradicts himself and in turn gets to the real point:

In Washington, Conway said the military was studying similar tactics used in previous conflicts.

"HISTORICALLY it's been hard. If you go all the way back to the British experience in Northern Ireland, they had problems with it," he said. "The Israelis in northern Israel and Lebanon have had problems with it, and we've tried to study what their experiences were and to learn from that."

It is not practical to believe you can stop these IED attacks.  It assumes an enemy incapable of adaptation and has no historical precedent.  This insurgency has evolved and mutated as conditions merit. To think this pattern will not continue is frankly either stupidity or intellectually dishonest.  The latest proposal is too outfit all military vehicles with jamming devices to render IED's useless.  Guess what, the insurgents are now developing IED's resistent to these tactics.

These latest proposals about adding a three-star general to fix this mess serve as stark example of how pathetic our predicament has become.  I follow the logic and say just go for it, appoint a five-star and maybe we will be home for Christmas. Good grief.