Posted on 02/18/2007 9:31:33 AM PST by Starman417
Last Sunday, 3-star retired general William Odom wrote an influential piece for the Washington Post entitled, of all things, Victory is Not an Option. (Unbelievable!).
This past week (Thursday, to be precise), Hugh Hewitt interviewed retired Lt. General Odom. The retired Army Lt. General is a critic of the troop increase as well as of the Iraq War. Go here for just a sample of the exchange he had with Hugh Hewitt.
From Dean Barnett's analysis of Hewitt's interview:
HH: Are you familiar with Mullah Yazdi? WO: No. HH: Or 12th Imam theology? WO: No, I’m not.What’s strange about these exchanges is that Odom fancies himself an expert on Iran but knows little (if anything) about the ruling class’ religious beliefs. This is significant; Iran is a theocracy where religious belief is law and dictates policy. And yet Odom seems to think that because he studied Iranian foreign policy for a 16 year window (ending over a decade ago) that his expertise and conclusions shouldn’t even be questioned. This is not just an obtuse conclusion, but a dangerously arrogant one.
Of course Ahmadenijad’s statements don’t alarm Odom. If Odom’s not familiar with the 12th Imam, it’s a safe surmise that he doesn’t know a blessed thing about the religious spirit that animates the Mullahocracy and has animated the Islamic Republic of Iran for the past three decades.
Ahmadenijad brings nothing new to the Iranian leadership in terms of his spiritual beliefs. Perhaps the General stumbled across the figure of Ayaotllah Khomeini while doing his study. If so, he would have discovered that religious insanity isn’t just a rhetorical matter for the Iranian government.
And one commenter on Hugh's blogpost, Peter, writes the following in regards to Odom:
He actually thought through failure instead of success and presented that thinking as good military planning. There's an old military test in two questions: "What do you do after you attack?" Answer" "Nothing". Question: "Why nothing?" Answer: "Because I never stop attacking."
I think we should come up with a new maxim, called "Odom's Razor". I have two definitions in mind:
All I have left to say after listening to the audio of the interview is, I am so glad that this three-star General is retired.
I see that this General is still suffering from a case of Hyper-relaity, he has spent too many years were his whims were never questioned and his word taken as Gospel. When he retired he never got of that mode. In the Civilian world your work experience as a General, or SNCO, doesn't mean squat. It looks good on the resume but it doesn't make you an expert on foreign policy.
His opinion and expertise in no better then what I have seen from well informed posters here at the Free Republic.
Specially when one retires after umpteen years in the military as a Three Star. And is obviously in the grip of senility.
I might feel grateful for this man's service to our country, but I give him no honor for continuing to exercise his exaggerated sense of self-importance when he is obviously in the tight grip of senility.
Wonder why he says what he says....Look at his bio. He was on Carter's National Security staff when Carter gave into the Mullas on Iran! Nuf said!
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