"My fellow Americans, for the 132nd time in the past 20 years, your Nobel Peace Prize winning former president has returned from abroad bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
Posted on 12/27/2002 1:02:02 PM PST by Sparta
The self-proclaimed "America's most decorated soldier" is about to share his insights on the current situation in North Korea.
If you want to see a defeatist, morale-busting SOB, it will be the politician who lets us get into a position to lose a major battle. For the moment, North Korea has caught us with our pants down in Southwest Asia, lacking the the available forces and strategic mobility to back up our commitment to the defense of South Korea. A very bad situation has developed, and the pucker factor at the Pentagon and at Pacific Command is about 9.99 right now. Criticizing Hackworth isn't doing a thing to reinforce the 2nd Infantry Division...
"My fellow Americans, for the 132nd time in the past 20 years, your Nobel Peace Prize winning former president has returned from abroad bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."
We don't need forces in Southwest Asia! Apparently you've never seen what a nuclear sub parked off the coast of North Korea can do! Hey Kim, fire your 1 or 2 nuke dongs (if they get off the ground) Then see what one nuke missle launched from a sub will do! Bye bye North Korea!
With the exception of a very few large battles in Vietnam (Khe Sanh, Ia Drang), the United States has not been in a desperate fight where the outcome was in doubt since... Korea. If you recall, we damn near lost. Hackworth is one of the few talking heads who understands what heavy, sustained force-on-force infantry combat is all about, and most men I know with similar experience tend to agree with his assessments of what it takes to lead and win.
For decades, we have been in the dangerous position of having a lone USA infantry division and large number of USAF personnel standing in the DPRK's path. In 1990-91, the presence of a reinforced III Marine Expeditionary Force on Okinawa and the threat of nuclear retaliation kept Kim Il Sung at bay. But today, with far less combat power, sealift and airlift in our arsenal, Kim Jong Il might be less timid than his father if he believes we cannot fight two wars.
Exactly what I was thinking today as I was running errands. I think of all those boys who gave their lives for absolutely nothing. Everyday that we let go by and sit on our hands, I sit here in disbelief.
If we let this continue, by this time two years from now there will be at least 3 (probably more) rogue nuclear powers.
What we cannot afford is someone who speaks ill of the MILITARY when their lives are on the line. Criticize politicians if you must (and I put Bill Clinton at the head of this fiasco...what with his stupid agreement and his downsizing of forces) but the bottom line is that Hack is demoralizing any troops who are listening to him. He should shut up.
Iraq is in Southwest Asia. That's where a large slice of our combat power, and most of our stategic lift capabilities, are presently committed.
Apparently you've never seen what a nuclear sub parked off the coast of North Korea can do!
Neither have you, and I pray we don't have to let that Genie out of the bottle again.
Hey Kim, fire your 1 or 2 nuke dongs (if they get off the ground) Then see what one nuke missle launched from a sub will do! Bye bye North Korea!
The present danger is not DPRK's nukes, but that Kim Jong Il might launch an invasion of South Korea with his conventional forces while we are tied down elsewhere (in Southwest Asia). If that happens, it is the United States which will need to resort to nukes to save our 37,000 troops from annihilation. If North Korea does obtain nukes, the threat to Tokyo just raises the stakes.
As one of the troops, let me assure you that Hack is not demoralizing anyone -- except maybe those who don't understand the full nature of war. Hack knows what it takes to train and lead men in battle, and he is often critical of those whom he believes are less than capable. As a fellow infantry officer (though a Marine), I agree with many of his assessments.
This is not a time to stifle dissent from men like Hackworth and his fellow Korean War veterans. We might be committing ourselves to a larger war than we ever dreamed, so we'd better be sure we are fully prepared for what lies ahead.
If you read between the lines of Hackworth's comment, you'll note a dry irony. It was Jimmy Carter during the last decade who "negotiated" us into the present nuclear mess with North Korea. Hack is calling for us to distract the DPRK with "carrots" (a la Jimmy's last giveaway) -- while we pull our USA and USAF troops out of the beaten zone near the DMZ, where they now crouch as outnumbered speedbumps.
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