U.S. Must Prove It's a Staying Power(Mark Steyn opines.)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | November 12, 2006 | MARK STEYN

[MrNatural]

..The president's firing of Rumsfeld was small and graceless..

Ok, maybe so, but there's another explanation that could at least be considered; namely, he had to go because his ability to run DOD is over. Beginning in January, he would have been spending 5 days a week on Capitol Hill being raked over the coals by various Senate and House committees.

And since he had to go, it had to be ASAP,

1) So Bush's new guy could be voted on by the still-Republican Senate.

2) So it wouldn't be after a week or a month of Democrat congressmen publicly gloating over what they would do when they got Rumsfeld in front of them. How ignoble would that look?

3) We don't even know he didn't resign. He may have just informed GW that he didn't care to spend the next year as a Pinata for the democrats. In which case, See 1) and 2).

Just a thought.

[JackHawk]

The next war will be fought here. I wonder where the cut & runners plan to go! Too bad most libs don't understand that!

[brushcop]

You're singing my song. I don't know how many letters I wrote to Army powers that be and others about that issue. "Army of One" is pathetic, it's an echo of the me, me, me syndrome. Army is about TEAM WORK, like the train. Whoever dreamed up that line needs to be fired, courts-martialed or whatever.

Military slogans can be powerful stuff, morale builders, team builders, to the point of a battle-cry. Can you imagine, "Ok men, CHARGE--ARMY OF ONE!!" and one soldier breaks onto the field, really great.

[George W. Bush]

Can you imagine, "Ok men, CHARGE--ARMY OF ONE!!" and one soldier breaks onto the field, really great.

Okay, so there's at least two of us. And you captured the feeling I get from these ads exactly.

[EDINVA]

"With another mound of corpses piled sky-high, the electorate would have stampeded into the Republican column..."

as, ironically, even New Yorkers did after 9/11. Poor ole perennial loser Mark Green was all set to win the Democrat primary in NYC on 9/11/01 .... which would have guaranteed him Gracie Mansion .. instead they went for Bloomberg as Giuliani's successor. If you think Bloomberg is bad, you don't know Mark Green.

[Chena]

I didn't realize that he was born in Canada. Oh well, I'm sure we can do better than McLame.

[SandRat]

Well worth the read. He gets it.

[Killborn]

"jungles of Southeast Asia" - Democrat Congress spearheaded by hippies

"the helicopters in the Persian desert" - Peanut man

"the streets of Mogadishu" - 42 usurper

Now class, what is the moral of this story?

[freema]

Ping to some sense.

[freema]

Note to self:
refuse to look at things thru left-colored glasses.

[Red Dog #1]

Bingo! It’s the only real parallel.

[TankerKC]

Now class, what is the moral of this story?

You like to cherry pick to make a point?

[steve-b]

"enough!" of the government of Prime Minister Aznar

And properly so, when the government of Prime Minister Aznar fed the electorate a bunch of BS about ETA rather than declare the obvious truth of the matter.

[Killborn]

Steyn stated: ""These Colors Don't Run" is a fine T-shirt slogan, but in reality these colors have spent 40 years running from the jungles of Southeast Asia, the helicopters in the Persian desert, the streets of Mogadishu."

I commented on the three events he brought up, Vietnam, Iran, and Somalia and the common political party involved.

I ask you again, what is the lesson to be drawn here from these three incidents?

[ntnychik]

Army of One is done.
The new slogan is "Army Strong," coming soon to a recruiting center near you.
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,116399,00.html

[George W. Bush]

Sounds better to me.

[larryjohnson]

wise thot

[brushcop]

Well, that's a step in the right direction, still falls way short IMO, but good riddance to "Army of One" silliness. The soldiers I know thought it was wussy; reminded them of some spoiled, undisciplined scumbag punk unwilling to conform to the team concept.

They should've turned this project over to the soldiers themselves, have a contest on Best Motto, give the winner some sort of valuable prize and I think they would've ended up with something far more inspiring. Bureaucrats never trust those under them to develop such things, that's why they're usually off the mark.

The Marine's "The Few, the Proud" will never be topped and if it's ever changed, a firing squad would be in order for the idiot that does it.

[FreedomNeocon]

For the rest of the world, the Iraq war isn't about Iraq; it's about America, and American will. I'm told that deep in the bowels of the Pentagon there are strategists wargaming for the big showdown with China circa 2030/2040. Well, it's steady work, I guess. But, as things stand, by the time China's powerful enough to challenge the United States it won't need to. Meanwhile, the guys who are challenging us right now -- in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and elsewhere -- are regarded by the American electorate like a reality show we're bored with. Sorry, we don't want to stick around to see if we win; we'd rather vote ourselves off the island.

Bullseye... Election losses are secondary to the loss in confidence I HAD in the American voter.