Why can't the world's most powerful military subdue a third world nation?

Disagree. The "rag tag band of me" you speak of are a more dedicated force than anything we have ever faced. These men and women legitimately believe in fighting and dying for their cause because they believe they are right. We have the technology, we have the training, we have the funding.. what we don't have is a first hand knowledge of the area and ALL of its intricacies. This war has cost us 200 Billion Plus.. I see no way that this is profitable.

It is incredibly difficult to win a war with rebel type warfare...in this one our American soldiers do not even know who the enemy is. Our Colonial fathers were rebels, as were the Vietnamese.

The USA is one country that I admire the most after my own-India. But on Iraq and the proceedings thereafter with respect to that nation, there is nothing by contempt in me for Uncle Sam. The US was not invited by the Iraqi public to help, it attacked a soverign nation and interfered in that nations internal matters. The human spirit cannot be bullied into submission by mere use of force, the powerful have to believe that they are right, other wise will find it difficult to win or subdue the conquered.

Our forces are fighting following rules of engagement. If a child approches you and asks for candy do you shoot him? No you tell him to go away while his father pushes a button to explod the bomb strapped to his child. When a car or truck approches you you have to issue a verbal warning, then a warning shot then you try to disable the vehicle and finally if you have to you shoot to kill the driver. Then a reporter shows up to show the world you killed a pregenant woman, but fails to show the armed men or bomb on board. The rag tag band has a person record the killing a US Soldier and it makes the evening newshowing how good the rag tags are. You have a world that thinks it is terrable that we yell at the Enemy Combatants while the rag tags get a pass for beheading civilian workers. It seems that the US can do nothing right and the rag tags can do nothing wrong in the eyes of the world media. At the end of WWII it took 10 years to end the insurgancy. Sadam learned from his Uncle who studied under Hitler and the stratiage is the same. Hitler told his most loyal troops melt into the civilian population and hide all the arms they could find. They killed anyone, and their family, who helped the Americans. Look at what is happening in Iraq now, the same thing. The insurgancs are being embolden because the free world is divided and does not have the will to fight a long drawn out war. Just an example last week AP had a story that was on the internet but not in the major media. It stated that US and Iraq Troops had a major battle with an insurgent group and killed 200 of the fighters and captured almost as many, while there were 6 American casualities. The news Media reported 6 Americans killed a near record. If the media reports everything as an American loss and make it seem like the insurgancy is winning, then we will lose. Just like we lost in Viet Nam when the media decided we should lose. I am refering to the Tet Offencive. It was reported that the North Viet Nam and the VC attacked several major cities in the south. The media reported how the Americans suffered major casaulities at the hands of the enemy. When the North heard the news they declaire a victory and spun the story for their benifit. You can do that with a state run press. The NVN General thought he was going to be excuted for the defeat of the Tet Offence, but insetad he was greated as a hero. Now the truth is comming out and it seem the US was winning until the media decided that the news should be about our losses and not our sucesses. Tell the enemy that we are losing and they are winning and soon they begin to believe it even as they are being beaten.

I'm not sure how others will react to this. This is an opinion of some of my friends and I don't say I agree or disagree, I look at it just a good food for thought since I can not prove it anyway. This is it. Every rag tag band of men there is the CIA hand behind maintaining a LIC(low intensity conflict)to display and sell US fire power and to keep the war away from American soil. Some may ask, what about the collateral damage? Who cares about collateral damage? This is a case of "For the interest of National Security and safety of American citizens, any means justify the end". I accept this thinking with a grain of salt since we have no way of knowing the truth.

I pretty well have to agree with you. Other than to make money I could never see any legitimate reason to invade Iraq. They didn't orchestrate or participate in 9/11. It would've made more sense to go after Saudi Arabia as all of the alleged hijackers were Saudi, as was Osama bin Laden. Of course it's widely known that the Bush and bin Ladens go way back in business together and Iraq is all about business.

I think it was president Eisenhower who said the military industrial complex was to be feared and mistrusted. During the Vietnam war Lady Bird Johnson owned part or all of Bell (I think) helicopter company, that supplied the huey's for the war.

I think that the idea of how beneficial this war is to the "powers that be" is absolutely correct. (See my earlier remarks in this discussion.) The military-industrial complex is alive and well, as is the consulting/support business like Kellogg, Brown, and Root (owned by Halliburton). What I find most criminal about this whole thing is that the average soldier is not being given a fair shake in this whole war; that is, they have been limited, not given all that they need to win the war, and certainly not the direction from the Pentagon that they deserve. Most criminal of all is that President Bush cannot admit that this war was a huge mistake, based on faulty information about weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist (which apparently the whole United Nations was aware of except for the US...sounding fishy yet?). Instead the president continues an unwinnable war and will leave this MidEast quagmire for the next president to clean up.

Exactly, you're spot on, i couldnt agree less.

Sadly enough, I think I'd have to agree with you. They're definitely earning their keep by letting it continue for so long. What is there left to fight for? Why don't we just give them our consitution because obviously we're not using ours.

The problem is all the technology, training, funding etc. cannot control the mind of the adversary. There is no method to over power the opponents mind. In WW-II Goebles controlled the propaganda machinery and was quite successful. But he was only able in his own nation but not the opposing force. In short term the Iraq war is profitable but in the long run it would be a huge mistake. The north bound oil prices are resurrecting Russian economy thanks to Bush.

That's the thing... They CAN "subdue" (read: demolish) a third world country. Washington/the Bush administration is drawing this out for as long as they can because they're getting too much out of it.