Hackworth on Larry King Live: Rumsfeld Screwed Up

Larry King Live ^ | 3/29/03 | CNN

[FreepnDeacn]

KING: Colonel Hackworth, have you been proven right based on your criticism the last two nights because the reports are contradictory?

COL. DAVID HACKWORTH, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, my sources are there and they're not the spinners that belong to the liar's club, and I check with them and they tell me what's going on and it's not like being on the battlefield but my sources are young officers who really know what's going on and they're only interested in one thing is keeping their troops alive.

The bottom line is Saddam is saying, said years ago publicly he was going to fight this war differently. He told his people to arm themselves and prepare for guerilla warfare and that's exactly what he's doing. Our own CIA presented this intelligence to Secretary Rumsfeld at the Pentagon and it was just totally ignored.

KING: But, Hack, a week ago you thought this was going to be a slam dunk.

HACKWORTH: If we had the combat force that we were supposed to have. The president of the United States authorized eight divisions. Of those eight divisions, less than half of them are there. Rumsfeld thought he could go on the war on the cheap.

The end of result of that, Larry, is that we don't have sufficient forces to do the job. And so, it is right now, we're between a rock and a hard place. We don't have the forces to keep our supply lines open and we don't have the forces to give our troops a rest.

You can't take combat troops, infantry and tankers, and work them night and day and that's what's happening. They've got to have a rest.

[FreepnDeacn]

So I'm flipping through the news channels and see this guy, supposedly an old war hero, saying Bush authorized eight divisions and Rumsfeld only sent half that? Is that true? What's up with Hack, anyway?

[MEG33]

It's called being irrevelant,out of the loop and arrogant.

[LS]

He is out of the loop and steamed. Try listening to him, then listening to Franks' press conference. It is clear that the Pentagon---and NOT JUST RUMSFELD---is fighting a new kind of war, and Hack just doesn't get it.

He reminds me of the French generals in WW I who cling to the bayonet charge in the face of machine gun fire while Churchill is screaming, "the TANK, you idiots, the TANK!"

[johnfl61]

Hackworth got co-opted by the pro-Saddam press.

[Gorjus]

Hackworth writes a column at World Net Daily, and he's been calling for years for exactly the sort of lighter force, with less emphasis on armor and more on mobility, that Rumsfeld has been advocating.

So the first time we try out that lighter force, Hackworth joins the crowd demanding more armor and more expensive 'stuff' to fight with.

Basically, he's become an 'anti'. He's always saying that whatever is happening, he's against it. That's standard politician talk. If you always want something that's not being done, you can always claim your untried option would be better than whatever is being tried.

[SolutionsOnly]

At the tactical level, Hackworth is a genius.

At the strategic level, he's a moron.

[Just mythoughts]

The Washington Post has a similar type article accusing, not enough troops being sent.

This a.m. MSNBC Brian Williams and a Col. Jacobs were rehashing the "mistakes" that Rummy made. Williams really hates Rummy and the President.

So this seems to be an orchestrated effort by probably the itch on the Senate Armed Forces Committee as a method of planting seeds of doubt. Actually the motive seems a bit more calculated trying to say we screwed up and all things bad are specifically Rummy's fault.

Sounds like "pigs" in a pig pen squealing over a kernal of corn.

[Bluntpoint]

Old soldiers do not die. Some just don't fade away and shut up.

Hack has gone from opinionated to just plain whiney.

Apparenty his ego requires a high degree of rountine and often maintenance.

[chilepepper]

Hackworth is a tool of the socialist media. He maintains just enough of a patina of pro-US military to give him some credibility with patriotic Americans, but this just long enough to try to feed them the Leftist agenda.

why do you think he gets so much air time?

remember folks, the Left is playing full-court press on this war. why?

*BECAUSE TERRORISM IS THE LEFT'S ARMED FORCES*

IRAQ == TERRORISM CENTRAL

[BullDog108]

Hey Hack! Do us all a big favor and STFU!

[Illbay]

So the answer to GUERILLA WARFARE is to send in EIGHT DIVISIONS?

What am I missing here?

[SolutionsOnly]

I haven't seen Hackworth show up on Fox lately... Interesting.

[expatpat]

He's just trying to get 'face-time' on TV. Maybe he has a book coming out soon -- or maybe he's just lonely.

[Use It Or Lose It]

I haven't seen Hackworth show up on Fox lately... Interesting.

But he has been on Hannity's radio program every day, and spouting the same negativism. It will be interesting to see if he gets the heave-ho from Sean this week.

[Redleg Duke]

Hack is aptly named..."Hack".

[veronica]

The whole Larry King show last night was disgusting. Hackworth included. A Bush-bashing fest. The amazing thing about Hackworth is that just a few days ago he was predicting a rout by US forces. He's been on Sean Hannity's radio show since the beginning of the war, I have heard him almost every day, he keeps changing his tune. In the end we will win this war, and if we had to make adjustments and it is a testament to out armed forces that we can do so. Wailing away on Rumsfeld etc., is counterproductive.

[daddypatriot]

Let's not forget it was Hackworth who was planning the hatchet job on poor Adm. Jerry Boorda, the former chief of naval operations. Boorda rose from the fleet to become the Navy's top admiral and dearly loved serving his country. He mistakenly wore a medal that Hackworth said he was not entitled to pin on his chest. Hackworth and another idiot were planning to write a Newsweek (or something) piece about Boorda and so advised the admiral. Beset with shame, Boorda went home for lunch and took his own life. It later turned out Boorda was given permission to wear the insignia by a superior. I have despised Hackworth ever since. I note here that we must always beware of those who would have you believe they have the answer to everything. Hackworth is suffocating from his own ego. Perhaps someone should drag out his file and see if made a misstep or two. No one, I repeat no one, passes through this life without leaving something behind that they would not want the world to know. Three cheers for our troops.

[cgbg]

Boorda went home for lunch and took his own life.

Yeah, and Vince Foster had a big lunch and then took his own life dumping his own body in the perfect casket position in Ft. Marcy Park.

This was the Clinton administration. Lots of suspicious deaths, lots of media coverups.

I am totally unpersuaded by what litle "evidence" has been concocted that Boorda killed himself.

[mel]

Oh wasn't it disgusting

[Clara Lou]

I hope that FOX News has completely dropped David Hackworth as a guest. He may have been a war hero in the past, but, IMO, he is now merely an attention-seeker who will say whatever is necessary to get that attention. He's sullied himself and his record.