Posted on 04/19/2006 1:20:33 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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It's hard to believe that people as smart as Rumsfeld and Cheney would have overlooked such an obvious consideration. Also, relying on locals for intelligence, leads to mistakes that end up alienating the very populace we need to win over.
Saddam is out of power, that should be our victory - because the government, security and infrastructure rebuild should now be the responsibility of the Iraqis. As long as we're there, the training wheels never come off. Our troops would be in a much less frustrating postition if they were stationed at the borders preventing terrorists and weapons coming in to the country (particularly, the border with Iran), rather than getting in between Iraqis shooting at each other.
Otherwise, our brave troops are going to continuing taking the heat and the blame for the continued situation, no matter how brilliantly they perform.
One thing about Vietnam I will never forget is Johnson picking out the bombing targets.
If I ever thought President Bush or Sec. Rumsfeld were doing this, I'd abandon ship.
I know. I've taken both. That's why I said what I did. Thanks for the confirmation.
Do not forget the nice music...
http://sg1.allmusic.com/cg/smp.dll?link=yo2338b4qwyn3zaqt2vz55a&r=20.asx
Put in jail!!! What? Someone has lost all perspective and, hopefully, only temporary loss of their common sense. It sounds more like the Stalinesque purge that cost the Soviet Union more than 3 million dead during Hitler's Operation Barbarossa than any statement of rationality.
Yep. It's a lot harder to take out a howitzer than a helo.
I don't know about the Crusader's maintenance requirments, but it has some interesting features. It employs MRSI to drop 8 rounds on the same spot at the same moment- like having a couple of batteries coordinate time on target. Needs a specially cooled gun tube as well as a computer. Operates with a small crew and swaps parts with the main battle tank.
I'm sure you're right, the Paladin is an important weapon. But add a cooled howitzer, some composite armor, a gas turbine, full auto loading and advanced command and control...
The History Channel has aired (and probably keeps repeating)a program titled something like "Air Power in Vietnam". It includes what appears to be circa 1968-69 Air Force footage and commentary about Air Force efforts in Vietnam. The commentary BRAGS about the ability to carry out strikes on targets in Vietnam with the mission planning and targeting taking place in Washington D.C.
Satellites were still new technology, so the AF was probably bragging about it's ability to transmit the data. If so, it's a lesson that just because a new technology is available, doesn't mean it should be utilized. (It seems I've just made a comment on Crusader and I didn't even mean to go there.)
absurd!
The kung fu movie star Bruce Lee would have turned 65 in November, and a two-ring media circus descended on Mostar, Bosnia, for his birthday. It was then, in this mortar- and bullet-pocked city once famous for its Ottoman bridge, that the worlds first public monument to Lee was unveiled. Building civil society never seemed so weird: Here was a life-sized bronze statue of a topless American immigrant paid for by the German government and christened by a Chinese diplomat, erected at the behest of a dysfunctional community of Croats, Serbs, and Muslims.But there are always unintended consequences.
Just hours after the monument was unveiled, a group of rowdy teenagers defaced the statue and stole the nunchucks, leaving the site littered with wine bottles. According to Sky News, one citizen responded with the cry, Once again weve shown what Balkan savageness is!
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