Posted on 05/20/2003 3:37:47 PM PDT by joesnuffy
Secrets galore
Posted: May 20, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 David H. Hackworth
Judiciously guarding our military's classified information makes excellent sense. Stamp it "SECRET," the system takes over and lives will be saved. What patriot would quibble with that?
But calling stuff "SECRET" to cover up Pentagon screw-ups that cost soldiers' lives or to protect war racketeers' pet scams violates what our country is about. Ditto the Pentagon-employed spinmeisters and the big bucks they waste annually hiding the truth from U.S. citizens unknowingly footing the bill for their deceptions.
The Pentagon's annual defense budget is about 500 times bigger than what our fleet-footed Public Enemies No. 1 and 2 Saddam Hussein and his designated terror buddy Osama bin Laden spent during the same period on things that go bang. My bet is that the military's annual propaganda and promotion budget alone exceeds what these running dogs spent last year trying to do American infidels in.
And then there's the army of flacks, stretching from top military spinner Victoria Clarke, her Pentagon office minions and the hundreds of other damage-control experts scattered at rifle-company strength around that five-sided building, to the thousands of flacks in the field working at virtually every small unit in our armed forces.
For years, I've tried to get the actual cost and number of bodies involved in running the Pentagon's con machine, only to be repeatedly stonewalled. The figures are buried in Pentagon double-speak that's too cryptic for even Ralph Nader. But we're talking enough folks civilian and uniformed to fill and fund at least an Army or Marine fighting division. No question they outnumber bin Laden's terrorists, and for sure they're as busy.
For example, as I write this, tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars are being spent on covering up what happened to Jessica Lynch and her mates during and after their unit was ambushed and they were captured.
Soldiers from Jessica's El Paso, Texas-based 507th Maintenance Company have been warned not to talk. A soldier in that unit said, "It's almost 'say a word and you'll be shot at dawn.'"
Jessica has been locked up in a private Walter Reed hospital room with an around-the-clock security detail normally reserved for high brass to ensure that what happened to her as a prisoner of war remains inside her room. Medical personnel who look after her have been given the same keep-your-trap-shut treatment as the 507th troopers. Almost daily, her cover story changes from amnesia to partial amnesia to more recently: "She's blocked just the ambush event."
I suspect more investigative journalists are on this story than the Laci Peterson murder. So, sooner or later, the truth will be told about Jessica and her 507th comrades-in-misfortune.
But maybe it won't about another big cover-up, the war's actual vehicle battle damage:
151 mighty Abrams tanks were hit. Most were repaired on the battlefield and rolled back into the fight. Three tanks took catastrophic hits from Russian AT-14 anti-tank missiles supplied by Dubya's barbecue buddy, and 12 others were damaged so badly they ended up in the junkyard.
16 Bradley Fighting Vehicles were destroyed, and 35 seriously damaged.
23 M-113 Armored Personnel Carriers were melted, and 53 trucks were destroyed.
A light-infantry weapon called the RPG (rocket propelled grenade) fired by the type of guerrilla enemy that caused the fathers of many of the drivers of these vehicles a lot of trouble in Vietnam damaged or knocked out the vast majority of these vehicles.
The reason these figures have been classified at a higher rating than the contents of Rummy's briefcase is that hungry porkers plan to phase out the Abrams and Bradley, replacing them with a new, multibillion-dollar wonder toy called the Stryker. But even casual analysis would show that if this thin-skinned wheeled vehicle had been used in Iraq instead of the Abrams tank, the much-hyped "Shock and Awe" would've been for naught, and the spinners would be working overtime to explain the debacle.
I can understand such deviousness going down in North Korea. But every time I happen upon it in America, land of democracy spelled with a capital D where government is supposed to be working for the people instead of deceiving them with Hollywood-style smoke and mirrors it's always a blow to the heart.
I read that same story and you recounted it correctly. I don't recall the story source, though.
The implication by Hackworth is that the Army has some terrible secrets to hide in the capture of the POWs and is desperate to hide them. That simply isn't plausible. Even if someone gave a bad order that caused it, it's hardly a scandal.
I think the far more likely explanation is that the Army has plenty (probably too many) psychologists advising them, and a very sheltered decompression for returned POWs is now required. As far as I know, nobody is being allowed access to these soldiers and all the stories we got were from embedded troops who accompanied their rescue.
Jessica Lynch is a special case because she's still a hospital patient, and hospitals won't say jack about patients.
She'll be a millionaire soon enough. Even if she can't remember a thing about the ordeal, she can sell the rights to Hollywood to make up whatever they want to sell to the public. But probably not until she's released from her military commitment.
Hack is one of ours ... he has spent more time in combat and years in the military than most of his critics have on this earth. I don't always agree with his view point on military issues, in fact, he can be a "hot dog" at times ... the red light goes on in a television studio and he shifts into gear. I'm a former Marine, I admire Hack and the warrior spirit he exudes ... his military credentials are impeccable. Hack has the best interests of our military at heart, make no mistake about that ...
They filmed it on the Las Vegas set where they faked the moon landings?
You'd have to look back and see how many of those reports came from the Pentagon or Centcom, and how many came from hyperventilating journalists with questionable sources.
Jayson Blair isn't the only one with a problem.
Hack may be dotty about some things, but this smells like an abuse of secrecy. If abuses of secrecy are not hounded out into the open you can be certain the abuses will continue until, in a military setting, it gets a bunch of people killed.
But even casual analysis would show that if this thin-skinned wheeled vehicle had been used in Iraq instead of the Abrams tank, the much-hyped "Shock and Awe" would've been for naught, and the spinners would be working overtime to explain the debacle.Hackworth for "Shock and Awe"?
Yes, you read it, right here. Shock and Awe was not "for naught."
Good thing we didn't deploy Strykers. Shock and Awe wouldn't otherwise have worked. Thanks, Hack, for letting us know, finally, that it worked.
cc: Rummy
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