Even a young seaman knows that tied up in port a ship is basically defenseless, that is why our ports provide security for the ships within them.
" It's war, we take casualties."
That wasn't war, it was gross incompetence.
" Any reluctance to shoot on the part of deck sentries is attributable to the ship's chain of command not Zinni."
Shoot what...a harbor FULL of boats and people. Get real, there is no way a handful of people on the deck with small arms and no security zone could protect the ship...and that is Zinni's fault. He put them in that position.
"Yeah they got blown up and 17 of them died. It's a shame."
No, it should have been criminal. What's a shame is how some folks are attempting to gloss over Zinni's incompetence and political nature.
"All you can do is create a decent command climate, give the unit a good azimuth to work along and trust your people."
What? Not just make them a sitting target with no means of protecting themselves.
You've never had to make these decisions, or likely, work for people who did
It's always war in the Mid East Chief. Sometimes it's fighting, other times it's positioning and influence operations
The Cole was there to further a strategy of engagement with Yemen
Tactically, it didn't work out.
But that doesn't mean the idea of maintaining influence in Yemen is wrong
Element of risk to young Americans, you betcha
Bad guys turned out to be better than we thought
We took a hit, people died, we're still in Yemen and it's paying us dividends in the war on terror.
You'd have us take our ball and go home
Franks only took over from Zinni a year before 9-11
All the basing plans, all the prepositioned site construction, all the agreements with those pesky Arab nations you seem to so despise, the relationship with Pakistan that allowed us to prosecute OEF and a lot more, that was all done on Zinni's watch. He set us up for success
You malign a good man
G'night chief, Happy new year
Qatar-6
You've never had to make these decisions, or likely, work for people who did
It's always war in the Mid East Chief. Sometimes it's fighting, other times it's positioning and influence operations
The Cole was there to further a strategy of engagement with Yemen
Tactically, it didn't work out.
But that doesn't mean the idea of maintaining influence in Yemen is wrong
Element of risk to young Americans, you betcha
Bad guys turned out to be better than we thought
We took a hit, people died, we're still in Yemen and it's paying us dividends in the war on terror.
You'd have us take our ball and go home
Franks only took over from Zinni a year before 9-11
All the basing plans, all the prepositioned site construction, all the agreements with those pesky Arab nations you seem to so despise, the relationship with Pakistan that allowed us to prosecute OEF and a lot more, that was all done on Zinni's watch. He set us up for success
You malign a good man
G'night chief, Happy new year
Qatar-6