Diplomacy can still win Iran (Letter from 3 former military leaders)

The Sunday Times (U.K.) ^ | 02/04/07 | Lieutenant General Robert G Gard Jr , General Joseph P Hoarm & Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan

[Pokey78]

AS FORMER US military leaders, we strongly caution against the use of military force against Iran. An attack on Iran would have disastrous consequences for security in the region, coalition forces in Iraq and would further exacerbate regional and global tensions. The current crisis must be resolved through diplomacy.

A strategy of diplomatic engagement with Iran would serve the interests of the US and the UK and potentially could enhance regional and international security. The British government has a vital role to play in securing a renewed diplomatic push and making it clear that it will oppose any recourse to military force. The Bush administration should engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions. There is time available to talk, we must ensure that we use it.

Lieutenant General Robert G Gard Jr US Army (Ret), Former assistant to the Secretary of Defense, president, National Defense University

General Joseph P Hoar US Marine Corps (Ret), Former Commander in Chief, US Central Command

Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan US Navy (Ret), Former Director of the Center for Defense Information and currently Chairman, Military Advisory Committee

[SolidWood]

The Bush administration should engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions.

Delusional Cowards. The only talks should be Iran's unconditional surrender.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

What is wrong with these guys? A bad case of Clintonitis?

[jocko12]

If the 3 were any good they still be leaders.

[Dallas59]

These guys are all nay sayers. One is all teary eyed and apologetic to the world over Vietnam, another thinks we should demilitarize and not have a military and the one is plain anti war....for any reason.

[roses of sharon]

What liars, Europe, the US and the UN, have been negotiating with Iran for 4 years.

Another BIG LIE being propagated by the leftwing and their press, worldwide.

[MNJohnnie]

Nice the old Clintonite Generals have feelings. Sorry but there is nothing in their resume that renders them qualified to offer an opinion of any weight on this topic. They have no access to any current intelligence information nor any real specialization in the culture and societies in the Region. All of their operations and intelligence information has not been current since the 1990s. They have absolutely no factual base for this letter.

This is an example of people using their Military title as cover for their Personal Feelings. It useless noise. Just more absurd Leftist Propaganda with a Military Title hung out front to give it credibility

http://nimitz.berkeley.edu/pastspeaker-1999.html


Robert G. Gard, Jr. earned his Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1956 and five years later earned his Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government, from the same school. Since 1981 Mr. Gard has served as Visiting Professor of International Relations (American University in Paris) and Director of the Bologna (Italy) Center at Johns Hopkins University. Last year, Mr. Gard ended eleven years as President of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Since 1967 he has written a number of articles on military leadership and planning, most recently "The Military Utility of Anti-Personnel Land Mines" which appeared as a chapter in Maxwell A. Cameron's To Walk Without Fear: The Global Movement to Ban Landmines.

In 1950 Mr. Gard received his commission in the United States Army with a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. This commission sent him towards 31 years of dedicated service in the Armed Forces and eventually lifted him to the rank of Lieutenant General. During these 31 years, Mr. Gard held a number of command positions including Commander of the 145th Field Artillery and 734th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalions; Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Defense; Director of Human Resources Development, US Army; and Commanding General of Fort Ord, CA, the 7th Infantry Division, and of the US Army Personnel Center. In 1977, Mr. Gard accepted a position as President of the National Defense University in Washington D.C. and retired from this position and the military in 1981.

Mr. Gard has received a number of awards for work both in and out of the military including the Harvard University Charles Sumner Prize (for his doctoral dissertation), the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He received a Harvard Fellowship in its Science and Public Policy Program for 1960-61 and another Fellowship for 1970-71 from the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. In addition, Mr. Gard is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Development Engineering Research Institute, and a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.


http://www.cdi.org/aboutcdi/adms.html


Jack Shanahan enlisted in the U.S. Navy prior to the outbreak of World War II and retired in 1977 as a Vice Admiral. During his 35 years of active service he served in the Pacific in World War II, in Korea off the coast, and in Vietnam where he served a number of tours in the Tonkin Gulf as well as a year in country as Commander of the Coastal Surveillance and Interdiction Force (Task Force 115 headquartered in Cam Rahn Bay).

Among other sea assignments, he commanded the U.S. Second Fleet that oversees Naval operations in the Atlantic, with additional duty as the Commander NATO Strike Fleet Atlantic. He also commanded the Guided Missile Destroyer Cochrane, the Destroyer Escort Evans, and served in six other destroyers and missile ships.

Shore assignments included tours as a member of the Chairman's Staff Group, Office of the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; as military adviser to the U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Council (NATO); as Fleet Readiness Officer, Staff, U.S. Pacific Fleet; and as Director, Strategic Plans and Policy Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

He graduated from the Naval Intelligence and Foreign Language Schools, the Naval War College, and the University of Hawaii.

In addition to the standard campaign awards, he holds the Joint Chiefs Commendation Medal (two awards), the Legion of Merit (three awards, one with the Combat V), the Distinguished Service Medal (two awards), the Navy Commendation Medal, and the Navy Combat Action Medal.

After his retirement he remained active in national security issues. He testified before the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission in June 1991. He is a member of the commission which, in September 1994, conducted an independent nuclear posture review sponsored by the Committee for National Security/Lawyers Alliance for World Security. He authored the study on "Peace Keeping and Peace Enforcement: The Role of the UN and the US."

He now serves as the Director of the Center for Defense Information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Hoar#Military_career

oar graduated from Tufts University and received a second lieutenant's commission in the Marine Corps in 1957. After graduating from Basic School at Quantico, he was assigned as a rifle platoon commander with the 5th Marine Regiment. Later assignments included duty with 1st Battalion, 1st Marines at Camp Pendleton, battalion staff officer on Okinawa, the Marine Barracks at Yorktown, Virginia and Assistant Manpower, Personnel and Administration Officer at Camp Lejeune.

During the Vietnam War Hoar was assigned with the 2nd Marine Division, commanding Company M, 3rd Battalion of that unit. He later served as a battalion and brigade adviser with a South Vietnamese Marine unit. He then returned stateside, completing a three-year tour of duty in Washington, DC as an operations officer and as Special Assistant to the Assistant Marine Corps Commandant. In 1971, he again went overseas as Executive Officer of [1st Battalion, 9th Marines]].

From 1972-76 Hoar was an instructor at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, later returning to Marine Headquarters where he served in the Personnel Management Division. In 1977, he returned to 1st Marines as commander of its 3rd Battalion, later accepting duty with the Division's staff, where he was promoted to colonel. General Hoar served as 1st Marines regimental commander from 1979-81.

After completing this tour he was assigned to the 31st Marine Amphibious Unit aboard USS Belleau Wood, participating in three deployments in the Indian Ocean. He then returned to the U.S. as Assistant Chief of Staff for Manpower, Personnel and Administration, gaining a promotion to brigadier general in February 1984. In 1985, he returned to Washington as Director of the Facilities and Services Division at Marine HQ. 1987 saw Hoar accept a position as Commanding General at the Parris Island recruiting depot; later that year he was promoted to major general.

Hoar moved to MacDill AFB, Florida in 1988 as Chief of Staff for U.S. Central Command. He returned to Headquarters Marine Corps in June of 1990, earning a promotion to lieutenant general while serving there as Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans, Policies and Operations. After a year at this assignment he returned to CENTCOM as its commander on August 9, 1991, relieving General H. Norman Schwarzkopf. He remained in that capacity until his retirement three years later.

While in command of CENTCOM, General Hoar oversaw a number of different operations in the region, including enforcement of the Persian Gulf and Red Sea naval embargo, enforcement of the southern no-fly zone over Iraq, ground operations in Somalia, and American troop evacuation from Yemen during that country's civil war in 1994.

[mort56]

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard was a military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara in the 1960s. Anyone familiar with that bum and his record in Vietnam should have no difficulty putting the General's advise in perspective. In short, ignorance can be fixed but stupid is forever.

[MNJohnnie]

See Post 7 this thread


What is wrong with these guys? A bad case of Clintonitis?

[adorno]

A strategy of diplomatic engagement with Iran would serve the interests of the US and the UK

There is a reason why idiots are called idiots.

They are incapable of learning the lessons of history.

If regimes such as Iran, and Iraq under Saddam, were able to be dealt with diplomatically, then the results in the whole middle-east would have been a lot different some 10 or 15 years ago. If it were possible to deal with despots and fascist governments like those generals suggest, then WW2 would not have happened. Iran is led by a terrorist and is a terror supporting government. To believe4 that terrorists and terror supporting governments can be dealt with diplomatically is to believe in fairy tales. The only people that believe in fairy tales are children and grown-ups that, for lack of a better term, should rightfully be called idiots.

[tlb]

November 10, 2005
Look Who's Joined the Antiwar Chorus
Military and intelligence officials call for withdrawal

Vice Admiral Shanahan and Gen. Hoar were part of a group of 29 military leaders who criticized the conduct of the Iraq war when they wrote Sen. John McCain on Oct. 3, 2005 urging a clear policy forbidding torture of detainees: "The abuse of prisoners hurts America's cause in the war on terror, endangers U.S. service members who might be captured by the enemy, and is anathema to the values Americans have held dear for generations."

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/zeese.php?articleid=7976

Officials Call on Bush to Reverse Course

Calling President Bush’s “hard line” policies on Iraq and Iran failures that have undermined national security and made America less safe, General Joseph Hoar (USMC ret.), Lt. General Robert Gard (USA ret.), and Morton Halperin, former National Security Council staff, released an open letter signed by twenty-one colleagues (including Vice Admiral Shanahan

http://faithandpolicy.org/blog/?p=381

Nearly Fifty Senior Retired Military Officers Seek NMD Postponement
March 26, 2004

“Right now it looks as if the Bush administration is deploying this system simply to say that they have done it. They're saying that the American people are protected. Well, they're not.” Lieutenant General Robert G Gard Jr (ret)

http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/archives/000343.php

These former officers seem never to miss an opportunity to sign a petition or letter.

[Pokey78]

I believe Hoar was also military advisor to the Howard Dean campaign back in 2004.

[Publius6961]

There is something unsavory about this article, and too many unanswered questions that arise before reading past the headline.

Why are U.S. military officers publishing criticisms about their country and their Commander in Chief in a newspaper? In a foreign country?

Who are these "former" military leaders?
How long have they been "former"?
What did they accomplish while serving?
Were they dismissed or prematurely retired?
Where did they serve?
What do their former subordinates think of them?
What do the ground troops they were involved with think of them?

Why should I take their opinion as worth more than the alcohol-addled senile ranting of other "retired" military leaders whose names, mercifully, I can't recall?

Just as a for instance, I spent some time in a European country in the 90's where a General, who subsequently distinguished himself in the Pentagon as a total idiot, was referred to by the American troops under him as General "McDork"...
Why do I have a feeling that these three distinguised losers are similarly esteemed by their troops.

[MNJohnnie]

Curious. These people work in a number of "Think Tanks". If we had ANY Journalists left they would be looking into whether or not these "think tanks" or "consulting firms" these boys work for are registered agents of the Government of Iran.

[sgtbono2002]

3 blind mice, 3 blind mice,
See how they run, See how they run.
They all ran after Bill Clinton's wife.
who kissed their tails,for causing such strife
Did you ever see such a cowardly sight in your life,as 3 blind mice.

[Publius6961]

Thank you for answering so many questions in one fell swoop. It didn't occur to me to invest the time to learrn of the records of these three men; I still don't feel it's worth the time, but a different perspective has emerged for me.

There seems to be a consistent pattern among elderly men who might have known better at one time, who served honorably, under fire, and done their duty. But some (out of thousands of retired higher officers) reveal their character flaws, or their dimming intellect, under the attack of old age.
The answer is senility, and all of its accompanying causes, which I need not get into. I'm neither a psychologist or an expert in gerontology.

Senility apparently lends itself to easy recruitment by the activist crowd. And the military are not the only ones susceptible to it. SomePoliticians, famous TV commentators and movie actors seem also susceptible to it.

[jveritas]

When these morons are going to learn that the terrorist regime in Tehran will not understand but the language of force.

[melancholy]

The Bush administration should engage immediately in direct talks with the government of Iran without preconditions.

Screw them! Are they giving us orders? The darn Europeans have been slapped on the face and kicked in the butts numerous times.

Talking about diplomacy with the mullahs will only give them the bomb. What then, generals? How can you deal with a Shi'aa leaders who talk to wells and will go to war with 200 million Sunnis?

These generals should know better than pulling a Chamberlain. It will be far more dangerous to use military force against an irrational nuclear power. AhmadineHijab wants the end of the world so he can fish out his buddy, the 12 Th Imam, from the well!

The talk about negotiations coupled with the RATs hysterical fits attempting to warn Iran, should be cut off by an air war that will cut off the head of the snake and make an example of a terrorist regime for all the ME and the world to see.

.

[MNJohnnie]

Your post was so good deserves to be repeated.

There is something unsavory about this article, and too many unanswered questions that arise before reading past the headline. Why are U.S. military officers publishing criticisms about their country and their Commander in Chief in a newspaper? In a foreign country?

Who are these "former" military leaders?

How long have they been "former"?

What did they accomplish while serving?

Were they dismissed or prematurely retired?

Where did they serve?

What do their former subordinates think of them?

What do the ground troops they were involved with think of them?

Why should I take their opinion as worth more than the alcohol-addled senile ranting of other "retired" military leaders whose names, mercifully, I can't recall?

Just as a for instance, I spent some time in a European country in the 90's where a General, who subsequently distinguished himself in the Pentagon as a total idiot, was referred to by the American troops under him as General "McDork"... Why do I have a feeling that these three distinguised losers are similarly esteemed by their troops.

[CyberAnt]

The only reason these former military people would say this is because they are too COWARDLY to take on Iran militarily.

I know most of you agree.