Posted on 04/18/2006 7:06:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON (AFP) - A senior British military officer, who worked in Baghdad in 2004, believes US generals try to act like gung-ho movie stars such as John Wayne, a newspaper reported.
Brigadier Alan Sharp made the comments in an academic report on Britain's influence on US foreign relations, The Daily Telegraph said.
The 46-year-old, who worked alongside the US military in Baghdad, said there was a "strong streak of Hollywood" among American officers.
He said an important part to being a success in the US army was the ability to combine the "real and acted heroics" of Audie Murphy, a World War II hero, and the "newsreel antics" of General Douglas MacArthur, famed by the post-war occupation of Japan, and the "movie performances" of Hollywood actors.
This may make good television back home, but Sharp said "loud voices, full body armour, wrap-around sunglasses, air strikes and daily broadcasts from shoulder-holster wearing brigadier generals proudly announcing how many Iraqis have been killed by US forces today" was no "hearts-and-minds winning tool".
Sharp was awarded a British honour and the American Bronze Star for writing the "coalition campaign plan" for Iraq during his Baghdad tour two years ago.
He is now commander of British forces in the Balkans, The Daily Telegraph said.
Sharp wrote his paper during a year-long course with other military personnel from around the world at the Royal College of Defence Studies.
The Daily Telegraph quoted the Ministry of Defence as saying Sharp's comments reflected his personal views.
We gave this candy-ass a bronze star for planning?
Good grief.
To eff with this hearts and minds garbage. One kills the enemy and breaks his morale. We tried that hearts and minds stuff in Vietnam and it didn't work.
The Britsih Army was given one primary objective in 2003: Basra. They failed to take the city, and the US had to peel-off units from the advance to Baghdad to guard our rear because the British Army could not (or would not) do he job.
Basra didn't capitulate until Baghdad fell.
I would say the Brits could use a little more 'John Wayne' and less 'Labourite Peacekeeping Babble'.
The parts of the anatomy that need to be placed firmly in grasp are lower than the heart and dangle from the thorax.
I know I see these "proud announcements about how many Iraqis were killed" each morning. Everyone else sees them, right?
Patton's laughing in his grave!
How else would they perceive Americans if not through what images Hollywood portrays? Has he been to America?
Brigadier Sharp reminds me a little of General Montgomery in WWII.
BINGO!!!!
Wars are won by killing the enemy and destroying their will to fight. This "hearts and minds" crap does nothing more than convey weakness, and an unwillingness to fight to win, and ultimately only costs more lives and prolongs conflicts.
The MSM sure are getting lazier--they just look around at stories that got their agenda across over the last few years and just REPEAT them with new no-names as their sources.
Katrina, Plamegate, Rathergate, US Soldiers = Macho Says Some British Guy... The destruction of Bush's reputation is pretty much complete now, so just use what worked before and keep up the pressure--that seems to be their thinking.
If I were a member of the MSM I couldn't bear to go to work in the morning and bash my country, at this point. I'd just reach for the phone, call in my resignation, and then go back to bed for a few days before looking for a job in a soup kitchen or something else that might make me feel a little better about myself.
What this toy soldier doesn't get is that Hollywood actually does imitate life once in a while - not the other way around as he states. An odd way for him to try to explain how inferior he felt.
Basra is not such a success story...
Gung-ho movie stars? Where? Where?
"This is just silly. I met a few Generals in Iraq. The description given here by the Brit doesn't fit any of them. In fact, it seems he's adopting the Hollywood stereotype, or that he is seeing the US BG's through that preconceived notion. At any rate, his opinion will certainly play well with many of the readers in the UK."
Exactly. You can see similar in stories in the British (especially the British) press about China and America, as the story in today's Independent (linked on the front of Drudge for more of the world to consume) underscores quite well.
The Brits are, at best, very reluctant allies.
In the first place, it's not true. And even if it WERE true, he's a moron for saying this. What purpose does it serve? All it proves is that he's unable to stop himself from running off at the mouth.
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