Where would the soldiers have come from for the invasion

[Snoggera]

of Iraq if the Generals who believed that there were needed at least twice as many troops to win the initial battles and then maintain the peace?

The draft is likely next year, because there are not enough to fill expected needs. If the Generals who had demanded 300k or 400k troops had won the debate, where would those soldiers have been drawn from?

The US has already moved troops from South Korea and Germany, as well as using national guard troops. Would a draft have been needed at that time? How would the nation have reacted to a draft to invade Iraq and maintain some semblance of stability in Afghanistan? Wouldn't there have been an uproar against the invasion? There would have been no possibility of a draft.

Now, because less forces were used than recommended, there will be a draft. Was this part of the plan to begin with? After all, this group of thugs has been planning for years, and had to know that 135k would not be enough to stabilize the country with Afghanistan also being occupied.

[KoKo]

1. It could have been the "Generals" way of saying, you can't do this unless

you get our allies with bigger troop strength in to help us out. And, the Bushies were determined to go, no matter what, so they did.

The "Generals" plan to stop it..didn't work out. Bushies didn't use France, Germany or Canada. That's where we might have made up some of the difference. :shrug:

[Snoggera]

2. Of course, you are right

I have just had the realization that even with all my mental firewalls in place, I made an error based on propaganda that has been fed repeatedly. For a moment there, I didn't even think about the rest of the world having a say in the war. I was only thinking about what the US would have done if the plan was to send in 300k troops.

That error calls for some introspection and a toughening up of the old defenses.

[Vickers]

3. Yup. In Gulf War I, there were over 800,000 troops, but that was

spread over a true coalition (or at least a lot better spread than the rag-tag group Georgie was able to cobble together).