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To: ride the whirlwind

When someone gets a straight answer out of Kerry is the same day Castro defects to the U.S..


3 posted on 08/12/2004 7:32:23 AM PDT by Piquaboy
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To: Piquaboy

Rest assured, Kerry will never address these issues. It is a page from the Clinton playbook. Attack your accusers at every chance.

We will elect Kerry as President and begin a terrible descent as Kerry pulls out of Iraq (again, following the Clinton playbook of pulling out of Somalia when American soldiers were killed) and kills the economic recovery (by raising taxes). Essentially, Kerry wants to pick up where Carter left off. This is the real tragedy - at least half of America learned nothing from the Carter years or, like all liberals, believe that somehow it can be done correctly this time.

Did anyone see "Blackhawk Down?" It is an excellent, yet tragic movie about the military operation in Mogadishu, Somalia. What the movie left out was why the U.S. went into Mogadishu without armor support. The answer? Clinton, wanting to play ball with the U.N., had to rely on Pakistan for armor support. Despite repeated pleas for armour, the Clinton administration said no and ultimately stopped responding altogether. Here is a brief summary of the problems related to 1) having a liberal president and 2) relying on the U.N.:

"Mission creep" was endemic for the American command there. Eventually the National Command Authority decided that no progress would be made in Somalia until the tribal warlords were subdued, especially Mohammed Farah Aideed. American forces in Mogadishu were sniped at the their base camps came under frequent mortar attack. Troops were killed and wounded with no apparent progress being made.

In September 1993, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staf, Gen. Colin Powell, asked Aspin for approval to send Abrams tanks and other armored combat vehicles to Somalia. Aspin refused the request for reasons that are not clear to this day.

The next month American Rangers and soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division became embroiled in the now infamous battle detailed in Mark Bowden's bestseller, Black Hawk Down. In an attempt to capture Aideed and other key Somali figures, 18 American soldiers were killed, dozens wounded, one helicopter pilot captured, three choppers lost and American dead dragged through the streets of the city.

When word reached (or was leaked to) Congress that the American combat commanders on the ground had been compelled to beg a Pakistani unit to send an armored column to rescue the Rangers, the stuff hit the fan. Twenty-five Republican members of Congress called for Aspin's resignation or dismissal from office (although none threatened impeachment, as the habitually overwrought Rep. Charlie Rangel has done regarding Rumsfeld). The mantra quickly became that Aspin's rejection of Powell's request for armor had led to the unnecessary deaths of American soldiers.

THIS IS WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO LISTEN TO VIETVETS AGAINST KERRY! THIS WILL HAPPEN AGAIN UNDER KERRY!


18 posted on 08/12/2004 7:52:35 AM PDT by whitedog57
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