'Too-slow' Marine Commander Relieved

News Max ^ | 4-5-03

[hope]

Reprinted from NewsMax.com

'Too-slow' Marine Commander Relieved

NewsMax.com
Sunday, April 6, 2003

"I'm afraid this could mean more casualties," one enlisted man told the L.A. Times embedded reporter, after hearing that Maj. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the 1st Marine Division had relieved and replaced his regimental commander for reportedly being too slow in his drive on Baghdad.

Col. Joe W. Dowdy, who had been commander of the 1st Marine Regiment, was reassigned Friday to another position, being replaced by Col. John Toolan, the 1st Marine Division's operations officer.

Toolan hurried to the front and immediately took charge of a speeded-up drive to Baghdad, quickly ordering more troops and more air power to the front lines. By Saturday morning, the Marine forces were racing north on Highway 6 and had begun to enter the capital.

According to the Times report, enlisted men with the 1st Marines were less than happy with the timing of Dowdy’s ouster. Dowdy, a popular commander was cautious with his troops -- reportedly at the expense of speed.

The Marines had come under heavy fire at the town of Al Kut, where they had run into stiff resistance from the Republican Guard's Baghdad Division. Previously, fighting at several cities along the way, including Umm al Qasr and Nasiriyah, had slowed the Leathernecks.

After the fight at Al Kut, with Dowdy still in command, the Marines drove all night with their headlights on to make better time. The tactic, usually considered an unsafe move, came on the heels of Mattis’s demand for greater speed at a meeting of officers.

Toolan is considered a “close-with-and engage-the-enemy" type of commander who had helped draft the division's battle plan and is a Mattis confidante.

The Marines have been driving toward Baghdad on a parallel course with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which reached the outskirts of Baghdad late Wednesday -- ahead of the Marines.

In the 1991 Gulf War, the Marines trumped the main Army forces and entered Kuwait City first.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Saddam Hussein/Iraq

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[Ben Bolt]

Today is a good day . I dont buy or sell newsmax .

[LuvUSA]

No..dont forget the Coast Guard. They actullty do more than ant other branch as far as missions go. But as far as tha Navy having planes...well the are based at sea
Tha Army having boats....pretty much limited to ground ops.
Tha Air force having foot soldiers...they are actually called para-rescue...they jump from planes....
Anyway, its alot easier to branch into smaller groups vs one big one....

[Bush2004]

I'm reminded of Gen. George S. Patton:

"We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Marines get all of the credit."

"Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo."

[Ben Bolt]

It was a movie ..

I'll buy an option that a private can have a bigger picture with clarity also . It happens . It's rare but it can happen given your example .

[Bush2004]

True.

But it's more than that. As I read between the lines, I see the "lights on" move as a potential "straw that broke the camel's back".

After the fight at Al Kut, with Dowdy still in command, the Marines drove all night with their headlights on to make better time. The tactic, usually considered an unsafe move, came on the heels of Mattis’s demand for greater speed at a meeting of officers.

[Happy2BMe]

We won WWII with plenty of guts, bravery, and sheer determination.

It's the American Way. It's still alive and strong - and I'm Damned Proud of It!

I have no doubt you are as well.

[LuvUSA]

Right on "happy".

[Happy2BMe]

"Start with what ever timetable you wish."

Counting the Time of Operation Iraqi Freedom

[walden]

Of course the story is way off. The Marines are serious professionals, and relieving a commander like this is a serious deal. No one who knows anything is going to say anything, and the grunts are going to be positive and non-commital.

But, the commander who relieved this guy did so for serious reasons, I have no doubt. Probably based on a myriad of details reported by this guy of decisions made, actions taken and not taken, that led him to conclude that relieving him was the right thing to do. Second-guessing this kind of a decision is just stupid.

[Destro]

The race to get Rome from the Nazis by a certain vain glorious American general cost us Italy......

But you can't draw any conclusions from history.

[ArneFufkin]

When I see a decision like this, it doesn't give me pause, it gives me comfort. This is immutable command discipline that is bold and resolute and tough. They're trying to win a War against the most brutal regime since Stalin's Soviet Union. Iraq is a dangerously powerful state, with longstanding institutions of violence and murder. This is history unfolding before our eyes, and this is a clear statement to the Officer corps going forward that THIS U.S. MILITARY does not f*** around with mission responsibility and command integrity. This Armed Forces is excellent in every facet.

These guys are the best theater commanders in the World. They've proven we can do more with less. The 4th is still getting their parade together, that institution is in trouble. If that Marine Colonel was trying to undermine a larger force strategy of speed and strength from light units ... he needs to go away.

The guys here who think this change has ANYTHING to do with politics don't take this endeavor, with it's horrible worst case scenarios coming in, seriously. Men who operate at the level of Franks do not play politics. They work as a team - but every player is entrusted to satisfy their role. They have authority AND responsibility. I think accountability was demonstrated today as well. Good.

[ArneFufkin]

That cartoon Wacky Racers had folks racing around too. But you can't easily draw any lessons from that either.

[estjohn]

Anybody figure out if this is the same officer as in the Arnot battlefield interview a few days back?

[ArneFufkin]

I think the operational timetable has taken on an especially important priority given the role Special Ops and CIA agents are going to play in the Baghdad end game strategy. They can't wait a day, they can't wait an hour some times. We're fighting differently now, we have less chess pieces on the board, and every single one has a critical mission to complete, and then must move, secure positions and fight in agile ways to the next mission objective. And so it goes. Not every field commander has the temperament for that kind of derring do warfare. It's scary and challenging. In many ways, this is field testing a new paradigm of 21st century terrorist/guerilla warfare. President Bush, Rumsfeld, Franks and Myers have balls the size of canned hams - but their boldness is based on meticulous planning and review. There will be no more ass kissing Generals in the Pentagon while Bush is CIC. From several accounts I read, he was immediately turned off by guys like Shelton and Shinseki. Yep. Tommy Franks, Peter Pace, Dick Myers ... these guys aren't male models, their military men.

[af_vet_rr]

Pardon my language, but I hope this is not a pissing contest with the Army, those types of things can only lead to troops getting killed needlessly. Coalition troops are doing so good on keeping casualties/KIAs down (actually it's downright amazing), no need to rush things.

[Glenn]

I personally thought the Marine advance was a bit slow

I, personally, am an absolute moron when it comes to all matters military. I've never served and don't know. But I trust the chain of command to know what they want -- when they want it. Second guessing is a fool's journey.

[Travis McGee]

This pace sure beats the Battle of the Somme.

[iopscusa]

Sure can't argue with the results so far...SPEED kills the ENEMY...this Marine Officer may have been better off away from the action, a little too PC, maybe...so let him teach school.

[jagrmeister]

Some people here seem to relish in their criticism of NewsMax. NewsMax is a high-quality news source that routinely scoops the major news outlets and is generally accurate. I use it regularly to see what stories the mainstream media fails to cover as a consquence of their blind spot for stories that are damning to the Left.

[ArneFufkin]

The Marines have never traveled this far, with this manner of enemy threat, within this rapid a timetable in their Corps history. I can't blame the Marine Colonel, he's a newborn baby in this thing. He's about amphibious deployments, securing infrastructure, establishing command centers, neutralizing proximate threat ... that ain't this!