I first heard about this on NPR yesterday and was startled that the announcer treated it as a routine fact. Placing US forces under foreign command is not IMHO inherently wrong, but it is assuredly controversial, and not something to be done lightly. Yet, here apparently, a whole lot of US troops are under the tactical command of Iraqi officials…at least officially.
First Draft, in the link above, wonders why the Freepers are not getting all hot and bothered about this, given their hostility to UN and other joint operations in which US troops might have to take foreign orders.
I think the reason is obvious, and it's not just that they don't want to make waves for Bush. Rather, it's that no one really believes that the Iraqi government sneezes without US permission. (Reminds me of South Vietnam, although they did exhibit independence from time to time.)
Correction: there is one group that believes in Iraqi self-determination. That would be the credulous press which no longer gives as much prominence to reports of US casualties in Iraq.
Did you know that US fatalities now stand at 996 966? And that total coalition forces have suffered almost 1100 dead? Not to mention contractor fatalities, or the many many wounded. Details on Iraq casualties at the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.
Typo, our dead stand at 966, which is entirely too damned many.
typo ?? the OIF count show 966 not 996. I thouhgt that was a big jump from yesterday
there I was thinking we might hit the magic 1000 today and it frightened me.
Sorry for the scary typo.
By the power vested in me by Absolutely Nothing, I grant thee Pardon.
Go, and sin no more.
If I was feeling cynical, I would add that placing our troops nominally under foreign command gives our troops/media/public a new scapegoat for any mishaps.
And if I were being cynical, I’d point out that even the House passed, senate failed 1996 US Armed Forces Protection Act, which purported outrage at the idea of us troops serving under foreign commanders, limited itself to United Nations actions with foreign commanders…
The UN? Heck, we don’t even wait for Congress in this administration, forget the UN!
This was a very important step. It was the last thing for which GWB criticized Clinton and Gore during the last election that he hadn’t then done himself during his term in office. Now the hypocracy is finally complete and George can return to Crawford for a retirement that will last even longer than his many vacations.
Sorry for the spelling error in that last post. But now that I think about it, hypocracy>/b> is our new form of government.
Strictly speaking, casualties = dead + wounded. Killed = killed; wounded = wounded. Casualties = k + w. Don’t minimilaize/trivialize the sacrifices of those who have left a limb behind. And what of those who come home andd commit suicide 24 hours later? Are they not casualties? Where are they accounted for?