Posted on 01/27/2005 10:08:18 AM PST by doug from upland
New FReepers don't know what they have missed on FR. Here is another classic from the archives.
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An Ominous Deja Vu
It is significant that the man Clinton turns to for military advice ---who argued against the tanks and APC's for the raid in Mogadishu---is the same Warren Christopher (then a high official in Jimmy Carter's National Security Council) who helped plan the disastrous raid to rescue the hostages in Iran.
At a planning session for the Tehran rescue, the man selected to lead the raid, the late Colonel Charlie Beckwith, was asked what the would do about the Iranian guards. Bechwith, a no-nonsense veteran of special operations, replied that as they came out the door they would be shot in the head---twice---to be sure they couldn't do any harm.
Warren Christopher gasped, grimaced, viscerally shocked, and asked, "Couldn't you just shoot them in the hand?"
Had Charlie Beckwith been allowed to plan the Iranian raid as it should have been done and left alone to carry it out, it would have succeeded.
Concerning the Mogadishu disaster, Beckwith wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the raid was bungled by committing the Rangers and Delta Force without giving them the freedom and the support they needed.
Interesting blast from the past. As a newer Freeper, I'd like to read more of these. Thanks a lot.
Another great moment in American history.
I guess this guy got his degree from the Tom Mix College of International Diplomacy.
Hey - don't be so hard on the guy.
bump
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