Posted on 04/05/2003 5:17:48 AM PST by randita
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:13:13 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
April 5, 2003 -- THE classic Japanese film "Rashomon" relates the same incident from several points of view. Each successive narrator's perspective on events is jarringly different - yet each version of the tale might be equally true. The film is a brilliant early example of "spin" and an uncanny metaphor for our present war.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
We have thousands of cruise missiles. Firing a few of them at a target that might well have included the regime's leadership was an excellent move. There was no downside to a miss. Indeed, even if we missed, the thought that Saddam and his inner circle had become targets was disconcerting to those targets and might have changed their approach to the war. This is hardly a failure. A sixty-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage in a football game might fall incomplete, but it will certainly shake up the defense and might allow future runs up the middle or shorter passes to succeed more easily.
The research also showed . . . "A retired U. S. Army officer, Peters has been in intelligence and was a foreign area specialist for Russia and its borderlands."
Further, in a PBS round-table discussion, Peters had this to say about Afghanistan . . .
"What we went in there to do was to get bin Laden, Omar, the Taliban, al-Qaida. We have to focus on that.
"What I do worry about is the arrogance of Washington and the west as well in imagining that we can design a better government for Afghanistan. We don't have the nuanced knowledge or the subtlety."
I don't know Peters and I've never read anything else of his that I know of. What I do know is this . . . A retired Lieutenant Colonel who was a "specialist for Russia and its borderlands," in my book, should not qualify him as an expert on real-world battle -- and certainly not a critic of the Secretary of Defense when he's shown he has a bias against those in Washington."
Let's make sure we understand. Peters is an author and a lecturer. That's how he earns his living. Writing controversial things generates publicity. Publicity generates higher lecture fees and more book sales.
A lot of "experts" are embarrassed and jealous of the tremendous success of this operation.
"The much-heralded initial airstrikes failed..." The Iraqis have been in total confusion from day one.
RALPH PETERS, you need to see a chiropractor. The contorted position you're in, due to where your head is stuck, could harm you back.
Is the war going well or not? It's going well.
Did we need more troops or not? We did not need more troops.
” Ground commanders complain that they were not given the resources they required”
Question for Lt. Col. Peters (Ret.): What battles were lost or what engagements were unnecessarily bloody because of lack of resources?
”Troops in combat insist that the kinds of Iraqi resistance encountered were unexpected…” Question for Lt. Col. Peters (Ret.): I assume you mean that we expected battles with the Iraqi Army and Republican Guards, but found they had gone home. Instead we face two suicide bombers and an attack by a fleet of Datsun pick up trucks. Do you suggest that this is what we should have trained for instead?
” Fortunately, we are not faced with failure. The outcome of this war, if not the timing of that outcome, truly is not in doubt. But events did not proceed according to plan.”
Let’s see, the Iraqi army dissolved, the Republican Guards ditto. We covered 300 miles in a few days. We are in the center of Baghdad. No, we’re not faced with failure. Just lucky, I guess.
” Fortunately, the 4th Infantry Division, denied access through Turkey, unexpectedly became available to rush to southern Iraq, where it has been much-needed. Secretary Rumsfeld may lack humility, but he does have good luck.”
The 4th Infantry Division unexpectedly became available? Do you have access to a globe? Where it has been much needed? What? To hold off the non existent Iraqi tank battalions waiting to spring out of the desert? What in the blazing blue hell is the critical job that only the 4th is capable of handling when all the troops and equipment is unloaded. I’ll tell you what the role of the 4th will be: to roll up to Baghdad and take over for the troops up there so that they can get a hot shower.
What’s the purpose of this article? Simple: Now that the Rumsfeld-Franks plan has been brilliantly executed and proved successful, the Army brass is scared stiff that Rumsfeld will have the political strength to transform their organization. The “Army of One” has been fighting him tooth and nail, and Lt. Col Peters, US Army (Ret.) has just signed up to try to spin a brilliant win into a series of lucky breaks.
Life could get interesting in the Pentagon.
You hit the same sentence that I did. Had we done what we did in GWI, a prolonged air attack, we would never have been able to do what we did, which was a massive and fast attack with forces that could secure the field quickly. No way could we have done that with a larger force than we used and sustain the logistics tail. In truth, the plan worked and Peters is only trying to cover Gen. Barry McCaffrey's and Clark's rear ends. They are the two most outspoken critics and both were Clinton appointees and in Clarks case, being advised by Clinton.
My suspicions are that they got their support from Clinton to voice their concerns, no matter how ill founded. They had their agenda and Clinton his, to undermine Bush.
As was stated before the first air strike took place, there are many uncertainties in war. The enemy is going to make unexpected moves against which we must defend while we continue to carry out the mission. We've made adjustments as the campaign has gone forward. I've seen no sign of failure. We've taken much of the oil fields before they could be set afire. We've obliterated a good portion of their armies before they could develop a unified defense. We've hampered their ability to coordinate their activities. We've advanced quickly, perhaps more quickly than we anticipated towards Baghdad. We've stopped numerous attempts of sabotage on various pieces of infrastructure. We've picked out army strongholds amid the cities and destroyed them with minimal impact on the surrounding environment.
If there has been any failure, I certainly haven't seen it. In fact, I've seen evidence that some aspects of the war have been more successful than was thought possible. So successful that they essentially had to wait for the war to catch up!
Life could get interesting in the Pentagon.
I can hardly wait for the Reduction In Force following this war!
He has never seen the war plan. Let that sink in for just a minute. Never seen it, yet here he is pretending he knows what it's all about.
We have just subdued the 7th or 8th largest army in the world in a matter of 2 weeks.
IMHO, there is no plan that could have gone better. I can't imagine anyone claiming access to a plan that existed prior to the war that would have gone better.
you are correct here.
What this author does not seem to understand is that a plan is developed by a team of people. All that matters is what the final plan is and whether it was a success or not. The success of the plan reveals that the plan was good and that every member of the team helped forge it. Does this guy really think Runsfeld was sitting there demanding a 10,000 man force as if he was going to fire everyone that disagreed with him?
I see Rumsfeld as someone that intentionally plays devils advocate to get many points to the argument.
Furthermore, what is so wrong with trying to win the war with shock and awe? It was a low risk high reward approach. Also, we really will not know for a long time whether shock and awe really did make the rest of the effort go to plan (It very well may have).Was it not worth a try? Yes! Who recommended that they start the war (against plan) by trying to kill Saddam on the first strike? Was Rumsfeld stomping his feet and saying no? I doubt it.
The authors statement that Rumsfeld got lucky is almost sour grapes.
To anyone interested in good cinema - I would recommend this film if you haven't seen it.
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