General Wayne Downing dead

Intel source | 7/18/2007 | Self

[A Texan]

That man was a warrior. God bless him.

[ASA Vet]

Probably sometime today it’ll hit the dinosaur media.

[SkyPilot]

Sir,

You obviously knew the general and/or served with him - and I do wish in any way to disparage his service or his memory.

I will, however, take issue with some of the things you said in regards to the entire Khobar Towers incident.

I spent many nights there while flying as a pilot in theater. I never worked for Gen Schwalier or his staff - I was flying airlift aircraft and my time in Khobar Towers was usually about 24-48 hours or so before I would fly back to pick up more cargo and passengers.

Who every approved walls being no further away than 30 meters in an anti-American culture? Who didn't have watchers available around the perimeter of an American compound? Who hadn't extended the perimeter by the use of barriers and the blocking of roads during a threatcon Charley? Absolutely unbelievable.

Gen Schwalier, people on his staff, and even then Sec of Defense Perry told Gen Downing that they had requested the Saudis allow them to move the perimeter to 100 feet. Gen Downing interviewed the Saudis, and they claimed they were never asked. Gen Downing chose to believe the Saudis.

Moreover, Gen Downing said on the McLeher News Hour on PBS that the Saudis would not relinquish control of security outside the fence. So he knew this. And he knew that Gen Schwalier had tried to tighten security, but he faulted him greatly in the report for the distance of the perimeter fence.

With any "Blue Ribbon" panel, like the 911 Commission, you are bound to have a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking. I am not trashing these panels altogether, but the temptation is to write these reports with hindsight as 20/20. Moreover, panels have to make "recommendations." The Downing report came up with some these in spades. Here are a few:

Designate a general officer-led Air Staff organization to oversee Force Protection; Expand/develop Force Protection doctrine and policy; Develop a Force Protection field organization to integrate Force Protection programs; Integrate technology/tactics/training to increase capabilities; Provide trained/ready deployment base for Force Protection resources; Expand Air Force Planning and Programming Guidance to integrate Force Protection; Exhibit aggregated Force Protection resources in budget submission; Develop Air Force Instructions (AFI) supplementing DoD guidance on Force Protection; Expand the JCS Vulnerability Assessment Rating System to highlight Force Protection oversight and resource allocation; Expand AFI guidance to Air Component Commanders; Include requirements for a Force Protection structure on their staffs; Consider extending tour-lengths for key personnel, including Force Protection personnel; Direct theater-specific, predeployment training; Expand rules of engagement (ROE) for Force Protection during deployment to countries without a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA); Inculcate Force Protection awareness through education and training at all levels; Accession through separation, with annual refreshers; Develop blocks of instruction for officer and enlisted Professional Military Education (PME); Incorporate Force Protection into enlisted Promotion Fitness Examinations (PFE); Provide cultural and language orientation for key officials; Support the streamlined intelligence/counterintelligence structure for Joint Task Force-Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA); Review capability to disseminate counterintelligence (CI) and antiterrorist (AT) information to Force Protection officials; Provide operational control (OPCON) of CI personnel to deployed wing commanders in areas of increased threat and attach to Security Police (SP) squadrons for Force Protection purposes; Assign, when appropriate, Air Force Intelligence personnel to the SPs along with CI personnel to complete a tactical SP ground intelligence cell within the Security Police; Clarify guidance on sanitizing/releasing Force Protection information and encourage its broadest use; Review interpreter/translator requirements and capabilities; Enhance Air Force's medical readiness; Include cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training in self aid/buddy care training for all members; Include biological warfare/chemical warfare (BW/CW) casualties in mass casualty training/exercises; Expand advanced trauma life support training to all physicians on mobility; Review automated patient administration capability for mass casualties; Develop requirements for surveillance systems for installation security and Force Protection; Procure commercially available pagers, in the near term, for alerting/warning systems in deployed locations; Explore advanced technologies for this capability.

Whew!

The problem I see with all these "fixes" is that they watered down the underlying problem - we were sitting ducks in the middle of a place controlled largely by the Saudis, and no one wanted to point the finger at them.

Also, I can greatly appreciate Gen Downing being a security expert. But, it gave the appearance of a conflict of interest for him to recommend the military purchase security equipment that he was selling. No judge in the land would ever, ever be allowed to do this and not be asked to recuse himself. I don't care how someone tries to justify it - but you don't chair a report that tells the government to buy what you are selling. It doesn't wash, period.

I am not alone in my assessment of the faults of Gen Downing's report. As I stated, his actions resulting in Gen Ronald Fogleman, an Air Force 4 star and a man I have met personally - to resign. Fogleman is a straight an arrow as they come - and I admire him as much as you undoubtedly admired Gen Downing.

____________________________________________________________________

Downing's decision to point the finger at Schwalier made light of the idea that there had been an intelligence failure or shortcomings in military-wide policy. "Intelligence did provide warning of the terrorist threat to US forces in Saudi Arabia," Downing said. "As a result, those responsible for force protection had both time and motivation to reduce vulnerabilities."

Ultimately, Downing's accusation led Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen to override two separate Air Force legal investigations which had found that the chain of command did all that could reasonably be expected to protect the airmen at Khobar Towers.

As punishment, Cohen said he was going along with recommendations of the nation's top military officer, Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, to stop Schwalier's promotion to major general, announced over a year earlier. "I have concluded that it would not be appropriate to promote Brigadier General Schwalier to the rank of major general," Cohen stated in July 1997. "He's not being made a scapegoat," Cohen said of Schwalier. "He's being held accountable." The action by Cohen played a part in Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman's immediate decision to resign as Air Force Chief of Staff.

In announcing his decisions, Cohen said several security deficiencies stood out: One, he said, was the lack of an effective alarm system to warn of impending terrorist attack. Another was inadequate evacuation planning.

The idea that Schwalier and his wing staff were not motivated or had somehow failed to make Khobar Towers as secure as possible became the dividing line in Washington's reaction to the tragedy and the source of conflict between the Air Force and Cohen. What really happened at Khobar Towers prior to June 25, 1996, however, told a story very different from the quick conclusions of the Downing report. It was the story of a commander whose motivation helped the wing save lives, even in the face of the biggest terrorist bomb ever directed against Americans. ________________________________________________________________________

President Clinton said afterward that he would aggressively punish the perpetrators of the Khobar Towers bombing, which was a joke. He never did. Obviously, that was not the fault of Gen Downing.

[em2vn]

Isn’t the Panama operation the one where the Navy SEALS parachuted into the ocean where they drown? Was their ever a reason found for those SEAL’s to be jumped into the drink?

[null and void]

Thank you Soldier, for sharing a life well lived with us.

Enjoy your special place in Heaven, you’ve earned it.

[SevenMinusOne]

That was Grenada -

[mcshot]

I think you’re thinking of Grenada where 4 parachuted into rough seas. In Panama they lost several SEALs when their position on the airport tarmac was compromised.

[em2vn]

Thank you. You are correct. Please forgive my error.

[ManHunter]

I had the honor and privilege of working with GEN Downing on the White House Staff shortly after 9/11 and knew him to be a dedicated, honorable man who was totally committed to this country. He was asked to return to government service on several occasions, but refused until after 9/11. Believe me, the boot-lickers and risk-averse that permeate Washington could have learned a lot from a man like General Downing, but they refused to do so.

[roses of sharon]

Oh no! God Bless him.

Was he ill?

[SE Mom]

Boy, oh boy, are you ever with on the target with your statement.

Damn lawyers and bureaucrats in D.C and the Pentagon do untold damage.

[Sarajevo]

Halfway down the trail to hell

In a shady meadow green,

Are the souls of all dead troopers camped

Near a good old-time canteen

And this eternal resting place

Is known as Fiddler’s Green.

Marching past, straight through to hell,

The infantry are seen,

Accompanied by the Engineers,

Artillery and Marine,

For none but the shades of Cavalrymen

Dismount at Fiddlers' Green.

Though some go curving down the trail

To seek a warmer scene,

No trooper ever gets to Hell

Ere he's emptied his canteen,

And so rides back to drink again

With friends at Fiddlers' Green.

And so when man and horse go down

Beneath a saber keen,

Or in a roaring charge or fierce melee

You stop a bullet clean,

And the hostiles come to get your scalp,

Just empty your canteen,

And put your pistol to your head

And go to Fiddlers' Green.

Written anonymously for the U.S. Cavalry, published in a 1923 U.S. Cavalry Manual. It is still used in modern cavalry units to memorialize the deceased.

Farewell Soldier

[bobcat bell]

There are many opinions here but you know what they say about opinions...To those who either never served or served and have a bitter or positive opinion, listen up from a soldier that has “been there” both in Saudi and DS as well as serving right now. I’m a veteran of the Marine Corps the USNavy and now the AR...Gen.Downing was a man of honor and committment.I happen to be one of those low-level slobs under his command at SOCOM and to those who knew him know better.generals do what they have to do its true, but if you ever have the opportunity to talk with him you would know what a soldier is all about...1SGT “BobCat” Bell..

[Vision]

We'll take it from here General. Godspeed.

[ASA Vet]

Was he ill?

Very fast case of Spinal meningitis.

[Old Professer]

He died three days ago; he had been suffering from myleoma for some time according to this blurb:

http://www.hoinews.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=41263

[airborne]

Rest in peace, soldier.

[ASA Vet]

We had this thread up with several posts prior to any MSM report. Take that dinosaur media!

[ManHunter]

I didn’t find out until this morning that the official cause of death is listed as bacterial meningitis. He also had multiple myeloma, a cancer that attacks the plasma and forms multiple tumors in different areas of the body. How he got bacterial meningitis is anyone’s guess; there are only about 17,000 to 18,000 incidents of bacterial meningitis in the U.S. every year and the vast majority of them afflict people much younger than GEN Downing.