Posted on 03/11/2008 12:23:59 PM PDT by gondramB
Thanks. The second and third worse post WW2 Sec of Defenses were Republicans. They were Rummy and Cheney. Cheney and Poppy wasted not a moment working with the RATs to dismantle the military Gipper and Cap built. Maybe that's where Junior learned downsizing during time of war from. The worse Sec of Defense however is obviously Robert McNamara.
Your welcome.
Agree with this post too. :-)
My stomach ties up in knots just thinking about McNamara...and tears get in my eyes just thinking about President Reagan.
That would be your opinion only.
Opinion based on enlisting during Rummy's first horrid tenure as Sec of Def. I saw what I saw. AWOL and desertion very high, morale very low, and if you wanted out? Hey no problem just walk off and turn yourself in at a command {other than the one you came from} for processing out. The lifers were getting their fill as well as they were getting no respect. Discipline was gone. I stayed around till October 1980 the end of my obligation to see it coming back.
Now then the fix for that issue began under Carters watch. But IIRC Rummy tried to put the same policy back into play while W's Sec of Def. Carter was a bad POTUS in all areas but if a man signed up to serve this nations military he at least made sure ya did the time you promised.
FDR did one heck of a job planning for the Battle of the Bulge....no guns, no winter gear, no nothing and we suffered 60,000 casualties in six weeks. Great planning on FDR's part. FDR lucked out having great Generals like Patton and great Soldiers like those of the 101st Airborne who saved the day.
Fallon is a POS. That POS works for me as well as you. I do not like it when a POS Admiral takes a poker chip off the tactical/negotiating table vis a vis Iran. And that is exactly what he did. That POS is not in charge. He was not elected to that office. His job is to execute the policy of the civilian elected by a the people of the United States of America. If you do not like Bush, that is your prerogative. He will be in office for only another ten months, and then we will have President Obama. The world will be so much safer, you know. There will be change and hope!
BTW, I doubt very much we will be at war with Iran. People like you do not have the guts for it. Crap, you are already whining! Israel will have to do what the Western World is failing to do.
BTW, the US nation built most of the West and most of Southeast Asia in the last 70 years AND we did one hell of a job. We nation built ALL of Western Europe, Japan, South Korea and had great influence in Southeast Asia. So why should we not change the course of the Mideast? I am so sick and tired of whiny visionless civilians! And because of my whiny sniveling fellow citizens (including that POS Fallon) we cannot even handle the GWOT! Unbelievable!
You have no earthly idea what I think about war. Bush did not have the guts for it. Say what? Thats what I said. BUSH DID NOT HAVE THE GUTS FOR A WAR IN IRAQ NOR DID CONGRESS! What is war and what should it's objective be? The complete elimination of an enemy by military force using what ever means available to reach that objective in a quick and precise manner. It is done until there is either unconditional surrender by the enemy or the enemy is no more.
War has no innocents. The people of Iraq are every bit as responsible for the existence of Saddam as the people of Germany were for Hitler. As a result if we declared war it should have been upon the nation of Iraq and not a political Boogieman. War is to protect and defend the United States of America. It is not for upholding UN resolutions approved by FOOLS.
Do you think my description is immoral? Then I suggest you read the book of Joshua where some of the bloodiest and deadliest wars are recorded. I also remind you of our own civil war where brothers were not spared. Yet today America's finest are being Court Martialed because some Iraqi says GI Joe killed Unkie Momar? What is wrong with this picture or is it you are so PC brainwashed you can't tell anymore? Bush lost my support in Iraq when he turned it into a contractor payola never ending baby sitting/nation building project. In that respect Bush/Gore/ and Carter are about on the same wave length. The war in Iraq if Bush had let the Military commanders and troops do their job would have been measured in weeks not stinking years. Iran would not be considering testing us either. War is an ultimate military punishment inflicted on an enemy nation and it's people. IF OUR LEADERS INCLUDING CONGRESS AND POTUS CAN NOT STOMACH THIS REALITY OF WAR THEN STAY HOME!!!
Of course they couldn't stomach it they hid behind enforcing UN resolutions and refused the troops the Declaration of War they deserved. Now wanna talk guts some more? I'm not a peacenik but when our leaders ask our military to shed blood I very well expect them to let them do their job as quick as possible and get them out ASAP. I am against nation building. But then again so was Bush so he said Before the 2000 election.
Compare that to the United States going to war in two nations, troops families buying combat gear for family members, and even after what now the 5th year of war Bush and congress are still in downsize mode and worse we are foreign manfacturing dependent.
We went from the best military the United States has seen in it's history in technology and fire power as well as manpower in 1988, to early 1993 a mess that was as bad if not worse than that of 1976-1980. You may like to blame Clinton for it but the dung was hitting the fan during Poppy Bush/Sec of Def Cheney terms. Cheney with the approval of congress was gutting our military. By mid 1993 the woes had already began including carriers unfit for deployment due to critical maintenance issues.
Furthermore can you please explain this? Clinton had to work against a GOP two house majority for six of his eight years. That was a GOP Majority which should have corrected the course not enabled it.
CONGRESS sets the End Troop Strengths and appropriates funding for the military. Why are we still at 1996 End Troop Strength Levels? Do you know what the term actually means? It is the maximum number congress allows for active duty and reserves. Now don't go saying recruiters can't make their goals as it is now. After 9/11 men were being turned away. That was the Golden Opportunity for Bush to build a legacy of Reagan and rebuild our military. But Bush is no Ronald Reagan nor was his dad who tore down Reagans accomplishments as fast as he could. Bush is Nelson Rockefeller a liberal globalist in a Republican suit.
Bush has wore out the W.O.T. by making it his reason for virtually every bad idea he has ever had including FTTA and vast expansion of executive powers and departments including the Department of Homeland Insecurity which was a make jobs for buddies deal. Of course good Republicans would have been calling for a DEMs resignation for such acts. Tyranny to some is great as long as it's their party doing it.
We now face another crisis thanks to Bush and his GOP enablers in congress. A POTUS Hillary who will have far more power than Bill had ever dreamed of. For that you can thank Bush, Lott, Frist, Hassert, Specter, McCain {Bush's anointed replacement}, and many, many, others ion the GOP who sold this nation out for their thirty pieces of silver. I blast the DEMs and I know how wrong they are. But I blast the GOP even more because they knew better the traitors to the Constitution they are. They are as bad as the DEMs and share their agenda. Take your blinders off.
Bit late to learn the craft of kneecapping. Bush, our fighting military and patriotic Americans have paid dearly for his failure to kneecap about 200 Clinton holdovers in State, CIA and FBI when he took office 7 years ago. They have rendered his administration far less effective than it could have been.
Doing one now is........only nice a gesture.
Great post cva
I have a buddy of mine who has been with the service for 20+ years. He was in Iraq. Multiple times. His unit is set to go back for what will be his 4th tour. He’s said, given the readiness level of the troops in some of the other units, he won’t go. He’ll retire first. The troops did a practice about a month ago, and he came back to town basically saying he’d retire rather than fight with that group.
His previous units were all professional and all ready to go. And now, well, I don’t want to say more because I don’t want to cross any lines. Basically, bottom line, we’ve got some issues with troop availability and readiness.
It's a bottom line that has been steadily getting worse and worse since Poppy/Cheney began the gutting of ther military and began short cuts on such things as maintenance. All the so call "help is on the way", "the adults are in charge now", internet generated hype by Bush loyalist never materialized. But persons who tried to tell them this is what was going to happen back in 2000 were called 3cpo, Brigadiers, Fringies, you name it in this forum.
Bush is not a pro-military POTUS. He does like photo opps with them though much like Bill Clinton did. He brought in two men with the absolute worse Republican records on military readiness issues and made one Vice POTUS and the other Sec of Defense. Had it been a DEM POTUSW those now supporting Bush saying what a great CIC he is would be calling for a DEM's impeachment for the exact same abuses.
Neither party the DEMs nor the GOP support our troops nor do many of the members of the two parties. They confuse supporting the troops with unconditionally supporting a blind and nearly incompetent on military readiness CIC with supporting the troops. Bush has not done our military any big earth shaking favors nor did the GOP majority when it had a chance. And there is not one person who can prove it wrong. The same policies of Clinton were those of Bush.
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