Posted on 10/26/2001 6:57:48 PM PDT by Godfollow
Congress' most prominent war hero, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., warned Friday that carpet-bombing raids by America's mightiest warplanes will be necessary to defeat Osama bin Laden and the Taliban government, adding that the U.S. can't worry about killing innocent civilians in the process.
"We must ... get on with the business of killing our enemies as quickly as we can and as ruthlessly as we must," McCain advised, in an op-ed piece in Friday's Wall Street Journal.
The Vietnam War hero suggested military planners have been too sparing in the amount of ordnance the U.S. has dropped on the Taliban thus far.
"We have not yet deployed B-2's and B-52's, the most destructive weapons in our airborne arsenal, against them," he noted. "We shouldn't fight this war in increments. ... They'll need to experience a more impressive display of American firepower before they contemplate surrender."
What about recent displays of public hand-wringing over the prospect of killing innocent Afghans as bin Laden's forces hide in civilian homes and even mosques?
"We cannot allow the Taliban safe refuge among the civilian population," McCain warned. "We must destroy them wherever they hide. That will surely increase the terrible danger facing noncombatants ... but it will also shorten the number of days they must suffer war's cruel reality."
The Taliban will take anything less than an all-out effort as a sign of weakness, the Arizona Republican said.
"Our enemies harbor doubts that America will use force with a firm determination to achieve our ends, that we will use all the force necessary to achieve unconditional victory. We need to persuade them otherwise immediately."
What's heroic about being shot down and imprisoned?
Patience, Abdul. We'll send them some coats.
The Taliban now have severe C3I problems, and they cannot feasibly re-supply their 'troops' and logistics are a death trap.
Be patient. You win a war by controlling the order of battle-- fighting the war on your terms.
Your impatience (perhaps brought on by listening to the news media, no offense) would increase our casualties.
We are not yet really trying to kill people and break their stuff. That'll happen when we have the conditions we want and create. Afterall, this is not about capturing Afghanistan.
Your comments are either to stir things up a bit or you're stupid? I hope it's to stir things up?
Do some reading or watch the daily DOD briefings. We've hit over 2500 buildings, trucks, planes and Taliban assets !
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day....While I am certainly glad I did not vote for McCain, he is right at the moment.
Bravo !
NO slam of McCain intended, just can't have it stand that "he knows how to win wars" ...
(an allusion to the song "Love Shack" by the B-52s)
Don't mind me, I'm just buckin' for one of those 'quote of the day' nominations. I'm still laughing over 'HAGADELIC'. That one's a classic.
We needed an old fashioned war cry after 9/11 -- and he sure gave it to us
I am so sick of this PC crap, so what if we hit civilians, BIG DEAL, $hit happens in war.
We need to bomb them into OBLIVION, SCREW ramadan, continue the onslaught, and hunt that MURDEROUS BA$TARD down and EXECUTE him.
What I wouldn't give to be going in the cave with them...
Keep our real objective in front of you. Vengeance is one goal. Stopping terrorism is another.
This is a war that needs to be fought on the ground. We put half a million soldiers in Desert Storm. Enduring Freedom will take only a small fraction of that number, but it will take something.
So far, we've committed a total of 100 commandos. That is nowhere near enough. It's going to take 20,000 ground soldiers.
Any politician who tells you that this war can be fought with bombing is an unpatriotic coward. And if they tell you we 'can't be afraid of innocent casualties,' then add murder to the rap sheet.
For all their bluster, I find the neo-cons are gutless when it comes to down and dirty fighting. They want to do everything from the air, with computer screens and joysticks. And you just can't defeat a nomadic, mobile enemy that way.
We should have had the Taliban surrounded and sealed off long before this. Instead, our pinprick ground attacks and long-range bombing campaigns are doing nothing to cut off their contact with the outside world. Until we do that, our civilian population remains vulnerable.
I hope Mr. Bush moves quickly to rectify the situation, but as far as I can tell, if McCain was President, there would be no hope at all.
Just a comment about the winter fighting. On Rush's show today, the guy (Hedgecock?) was talking about our thermal imaging technology and pointed out that if it's winter, it will make it that much easier to find them. That was the first time I had heard mention of it in that aspect. Not that I agree with fighting with one hand tied behind our backs, by any means, but if he's right, it makes me feel a little less worried about the approach of winter.
Just imagine - carpet bombing of the mountainous area size of Texas with one million "B-2's and B-52's", wow! 4 planes per square mile !
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