Posted on 05/22/2004 5:41:40 PM PDT by b4its2late
Tell me please, where Stormin Norman made mistakes in his generalling of Desert Storm? (Just as I predicted - even one of the most respected generals gets dumped on by know-nothings here who've never put on a US uniform, but can't abide anyone, even a decorated combat leader, who honestly disagrees with them about Iraq)
I was in Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield/Storm and visted Kuwait a few days after the war was over. I toured the burning oilfields and the mile of death.
Just as I predicted - even one of the most respected generals gets dumped on by know-nothings here who've never put on a US uniform, but can't abide anyone, even a decorated combat leader, who honestly disagrees with them about Iraq)
I served as a naval officer for 8 years including a year in Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Where did you serve?
I guess we'll have to. The Bush administration has shot us in both feet.
Walt
General, Zinni is not in the media.
Walt
Because the president is a puppet.
Walt
You probably mean Paul O'Neil.
He was perhaps the first to let on that Bush planned to attack Iraq even before 9/11.
From the Washington Post:
"The book, "Battle Ready," is by novelist Tom Clancy, with Zinni and Tony Koltz. Zinni was U.S. special envoy to the Middle East for Secretary of State Colin L. Powell from November 2002 to March 2003. In several interviews and statements at the time, Bush mentioned Zinni's presence in the region as one reason for his optimism about the peace process and said he was looking forward to his recommendations. Referring to himself and Vice President Cheney, Bush said during an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office, "We both trust General Zinni."
Walt
Geo. HW Bush's 1991-92 budget hit the Navy with a 21% cut (the Army and AF were in the 30% range).
People losses where only about 75,000 (compared to the Army's 245,000); but the draw-down hurt operations pretty bad.
Went from 2 battleships to 0, 87 attack subs to around 50 (plus or minus the Virginia class), 14 carriers to 12 (and ran the dogshi+ out of USS America before sending her to scrap), cut out half a generation of cruisers, a whole new class of frigates.
MSC (sea-lift to move tanks and trigger-pullers from here to there) went down to around 22 ships; it needs at least 40 to move 2 armored divisions within 30 days according to the "plan"; fleet oilers went from 35 to 21 (that's why USS Cole was in Aden).
All in all, the plan would have taken the Navy from Reagan's 545 ships down to just under 400 ships by 1995.
Along came Billy-Jeff and a bean-counter Les Aspin with a "Bottom-up-review" that proposed a 330 ship fleet by 1998. Amazingly, Clinton didn't much mess w/ the Navy budget, but the other services got whacked again.
That's the spirit! Of Valley Forge, Iwo Jima...or something
Hack, Clarke, Zinni..the same ole endless parade of Quagmire a$$ holes (with or without a book)
He is a stooge of the liberal media, a political opponent of the war effort, an ally of the French and Al-Qaida.
Three cheers for youTokyo Rose wannabes of our day.
Whiskey man would have taken a swig of his flask, cursed the generalship of Washington, and taken his musket home. After the war, he would have still been chugging it down and telling all what a gallant hero he was.
I guess Messrs. Bush and Cheney have learned that lesson the hard way.
From CBS.com:
"Zinni believes this was a war the generals didn’t want – but it was a war the civilians wanted.
But he wasn’t the only former military leader with doubts about the invasion of Iraq. Former General and National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former Centcom Commander Norman Schwarzkopf, former NATO Commander Wesley Clark, and former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki all voiced their reservations.
“I can't speak for all generals, certainly. But I know we felt that this situation was contained. Saddam was effectively contained. The no-fly, no-drive zones. The sanctions that were imposed on him,” says Zinni."
KIA in Iraq as of today: 793
All this "I love America, I love our service people," (not necessarily from you) sounds a bit hollow when you contemplate what's going on and yes, the KIA in Iraq totals 793 as of today.
People need to wake up.
Walt
That's one day.
Total fatalities in IRAQI FREEDOM have been astoundingly low.
And completely unnecessary.
Walt
Spoken like someone who did NOT live in Saddam's Iraq.
Spoken like someone who did NOT live in Saddam's Iraq.
Saddam torturing or murdering people under his control in Iraq did not impinge on our vital national interests. Or maybe you wanted to have 793 KIA and $500,000,000,000 deficits.
Wake up.
Walt
You have no mind for strategic thought. IRAQI FREEDOM is a response to an intersection of many US interests (like liberating the population, rooting out al Qaida tumors, establishing a stabilizing presence in the Gulf, capturing or killing Saddam, etc.). In the process, we've exposed a massive fraud against US taxpayers perpetrated by the UN, to the benefit of 'allies' like France (whose fickleness or outright emnity has been demonstrated once again).
I think strategic thought is beyond your comprehension. And after all, since you're already free, who cares about anybody else?
I got my freedom, says WP. I got mine.
Not necessarily..
it would depend on what they meant by 'trust'.
I also trust the little general, and I'm not exactly a fan.
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