Posted on 04/09/2006 9:00:05 AM PDT by Leisler
Posted Sunday, Apr. 09, 2006
Two senior military officers are known to have challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the planning of the Iraq war. Army General Eric Shinseki publicly dissented and found himself marginalized. Marine Lieut. General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon's top operations officer, voiced his objections internally and then retired, in part out of opposition to the war. Here, for the first time, Newbold goes public with a full-throated critique:
In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem Won't Get Fooled Again. To most in my generation, the song conveyed a sense of betrayal by the nation's leaders, who had led our country into a costly and unnecessary war in Vietnam. To those of us who were truly counterculture—who became career members of the military during those rough times—the song conveyed a very different message. To us, its lyrics evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. Never again, we thought, would our military's senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It's 35 years later, and the judgment is in: the Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again. From 2000 until October 2002, I was a Marine Corps lieutenant general and director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After 9/11, I was a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq—an unnecessary war. Inside the military family, I made no secret of my view that the zealots' rationale for war made no sense. And I think I was outspoken enough to make those senior to me uncomfortable. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
What's wrong with the military being in charge of itself and calling the shots?
I want to approve all troop deployments ....
I want this HVT bombed but leave that cafe open....
I want the JCS to "discuss" with CENTCOM requested troop levels needed to invade Iraq ....
I don't want the word occupy to be said ....
I want this battalion here and that company there.... OK I made that one up (I hope)
I fully understand that the President is Commander and Chief and what the Constitution says ... if only Rumsfeld would start taking the advice of professionals verse the voices in his head. The President should have accepted his resignation.
A draw down with Iran next door? I guess we can continue to think that....
I am not privy to all of the Intel that our "leaders" had in Washington DC. Like most of you, I have the information I was given.
However, I do fault our leaders with one thing.
There was no Declaration of War by the Congress of the United States. Therefore troops should not have been sent into harms way.
and no, a resolution doesn't cut the mustard. Congress did it in 1941, they should have done it in 2001.
If the balloom goes up, all bets are off.
Well I hope Rumsfeld has "covered" his bets well .... we have the second longest and most exposed supply lines in military history with Iraq (which Iran can do alot to cut) and the longest and most exposed supply lines in Afghanistan (which Iran can make miserable) ... I can't see a draw down without the Iranian problem solved. We are just fooling ourselves to think otherwise. I know the President will extend the national emergency in September and I just hope whatever plan they have that they are doing it ..... I've always favored the "Bull Simons" option in Iran. I don't see much else working.
Well, the navy and air force haven't been doing much recently. If necessary, they can make them keep their heads down.
Basically, he's just regurgitating the same over-used anti-war talking points you hear in the MSM every day. Nothing new here. Notice he doesn't even cite any examples of what's going on in Iraq. We're not supposed to even question whether or not his cynical view is even the slightest bit accurate! I notice he fails to mention the daily progress we have been making in the once completely lawless Ramadi, the 30,000 new businesses that are starting up this year, the new police forces, new government, the incredible work being done at ibn Sina hospital, Iraq GDP per capita has doubled in one year. Yet another ignorant liberal with an agenda. Why am I not suprised that this story originated in TIME?
I thought Won't Get Fooled Again was about youth being really excited about a revolution only to realize that their revolution was a fraud and nothing changed.
Who's Next was the first Album I ever bought, in 1998 from Amazon.com so maybe I don't have the correct prospective on it.
In fact its a pretty insightful song, especially coming from teenagers, "Old Boss, same as the New Boss", weird how that happens everywhere.
Sounds like Massacre at Central High.
I'm worried about this too, but not for the same reason. I accept your observation that he is not a micromanager, which leads me to really wonder what he was doing knobdicking the TPFDL - if not a micromanager then he must have had some other objective for his behavior. Many suspect that he was trying to make a point, to wit: the U.S. did not need large ground forces for the transformed military. Many suspect that's why 1AD's deployment was delayed and 1st Cav's was cancelled.
Many suspect that he was trying to make a point, to wit: the U.S. did not need large ground forces for the transformed military. Many suspect that's why 1AD's deployment was delayed and 1st Cav's was cancelled.
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