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Richard Reeves: Soldiers Can't Speak Freely
The Hartford Courant ^
| July 29, 2003
| Richard Reeves
Posted on 07/29/2003 6:40:31 AM PDT by BillyBonebrake
I'm with the kid in Fallujah, the Army private in the Third Infantry Division, who said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ought to resign. Rummy and his crowd led and misled those soldiers out there to occupy a country we can defeat but not control.
Rumsfeld, who should never have been given an army to play with, is either nuts or incompetent. I tend toward the former. He and President Bush overreached in sending 16 of the Army's 33 combat-ready divisions to win an easy war and now have to leave them out there to occupy the desert - something they are not well-trained to do - until we withdraw or find someone to take our place.
Now, there's a problem. We mocked and bullied most of our allies in the run-up to war - we didn't need the wusses of Old Europe and old everyplace else - and now we are begging the people we ignored, the United Nations and our own North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to come bail us out.
We can't really win this game. In that way, we are repeating the mistakes we made in Vietnam all those years ago. This is quite a different war in quite a different place, but there is this similarity: The Vietnamese and the Iraqis have been there forever and will be there forever, but we will leave sooner or later.
(Excerpt) Read more at ctnow.com ...
TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: army; creeping; in; iraq; military; occupation; rebuildingiraq; senility; war
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult
how about a flat frog or two?
21
posted on
07/29/2003 7:06:25 AM PDT
by
xtorpedoman
(do what you can,with what you have, where ever you are)
To: Hillarys Gate Cult
how about a flat frog or two?
22
posted on
07/29/2003 7:06:25 AM PDT
by
xtorpedoman
(do what you can,with what you have, where ever you are)
To: twigs
Could it be that this person is one of those who wants to do what he wants and can not! He has a boss that allows no talking back. I also think it might just be a liberal plant to have a story like this in the news.
23
posted on
07/29/2003 7:07:18 AM PDT
by
MamaB
To: Hillarys Gate Cult
I spent a year in the Marine Barracks on Guam. I kind of enjoyed it. Every time there was a typhoon alert, we had to tie off the palm trees between the barracks.
The diving and snorkeling was fantastic.
24
posted on
07/29/2003 7:14:59 AM PDT
by
dwilli
To: Herodotus
I for one am fascinated to learn that we have 33 active duty divisions.And all this time we thought we had been downsizing! Now we know what those $800 toilet seats were REALLY paying for.
25
posted on
07/29/2003 7:19:54 AM PDT
by
Coop
(God bless our troops!)
To: xtorpedoman
Was it like this?
26
posted on
07/29/2003 7:28:36 AM PDT
by
mattdono
To: BillyBonebrake
This was hard to read. The story line seemed to fade in and out.
I keep hearing the press talk about soldier writing home and complaining. We do have a few whiners but most of them just talk about being sick of the heat and missing an easier life. They don't talk about firing their leadership! The press really looks hard for troops wearing long faces to pounce upon for a good story.
To: mattdono
LMAO!
it was much worse.
no McDonalds! that Horror of it all!
lol
28
posted on
07/29/2003 7:32:45 AM PDT
by
xtorpedoman
(do what you can,with what you have, where ever you are)
To: BillyBonebrake
If people like Reeves had been in charge, we would have lost World War II, the Jews would have been exterminated, and Europe would be a huge fascist dictatorship. And that would be just fine with Reeves.
To: BillyBonebrake
Somebody call a WAAHmbulance.
30
posted on
07/29/2003 7:34:50 AM PDT
by
SerpentDove
(Visit my profile page. Steal my graphics.)
To: Austin Willard Wright
I just re-read it. you're right. mea culpa.
31
posted on
07/29/2003 7:41:08 AM PDT
by
theDentist
(Liberals can sugarcoat sh** all they want. I'm not biting.)
To: mattdono
No, it is journalist Richard Reeves who is using his own scenario to give the soldier a bad name. There are indications aplenty that the journalist corps in Iraq and the Gulf is suffering from the Viet Nam syndrome and has a number of Dan Rather, Peter Arnett, Robert Scheer wannabes who will make their bones by denigrating the military, its mission, and its men.
32
posted on
07/29/2003 7:45:07 AM PDT
by
gaspar
To: MamaB
might just be a liberal plant That could easily be the case!
33
posted on
07/29/2003 7:51:38 AM PDT
by
twigs
To: BillyBonebrake
Bottom line, the United States military isn't a democratic institution. If any soldier doesn't agree with an order by a superior, that soldier is entitled to use the chain of command to be heard. Otherwise, strict disipline is the order of the day and keeping your mouth shut in public is standard operating procedure.
To: Austin Willard Wright; BillyBonebrake; xtorpedoman; Lowell
Errr....um....he says that soldiers should not be allowed to complain to the media. Reading is fundamental. Thanks, Austin. And although enroute to that conclusion Reeves loses no chance to throw in some gratuitous slams at the administration, he makes a very good point about civilian control of the military and how that requires discipline and control within the military itself.
To: Lowell
I don't believe a soldier wrote that at all. A very clever liberal wrote that and planted it. They are scummy pieces of garbage. A reporter who clearly identifies himself as such wrote this article--not a soldier.
To: BillyBonebrake
He and President Bush overreached in sending 16 of the Army's 33 combat-ready divisions What the hell does this mean? Does anyone know how long it has been since we had 33 divisions??? We might have 16 Brigades in Iraq if you include the Marines, but the Army doesn't.
37
posted on
07/29/2003 8:03:02 AM PDT
by
HoustonCurmudgeon
(PEACE - Through Superior Firepower)
To: MamaB
Could it be that this person is one of those who wants to do what he wants and can not!
He'll never be married!
38
posted on
07/29/2003 8:04:13 AM PDT
by
Only1choice____Freedom
(If everything you experienced, believed, lived was a lie, would you want to know the truth?)
To: dwilli
I spent 5 years on Guam (Air Force), once gave some Marines a ride from Big Navy to NCS. The Marine Baracks there was really run down when I saw the place ( 1987 ). One of the guys told me that they sometimes had flames coming out of the ventalation units.
39
posted on
07/29/2003 8:15:03 AM PDT
by
Hillarys Gate Cult
("Read Hillary's hips. I never had sex with that woman.")
To: HoustonCurmudgeon
Does anyone know how long it has been since we had 33 divisions??? We might have 16 Brigades in Iraq if you include the Marines, but the Army doesn't. Yeah, the guy screwed up his brigades & divisions--in answer to your question--WWII when we had 80+ divisions!
However, we do in fact have more than 16 U.S. Army brigades/regiments in Iraq:
1AD-3
101st-3
4ID-3
173d-1
2d Cav-1 (regiment)
3d Cav-1 (regiment)
82d-1
1ID-1 (equivalent)
3ID-2 and going down
and there are two National Guard enhanced brigades already there--one from Florida and the other from the mid-west.
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