Iraq, Republicans, and the Military
By muppetsnap
@muppetsnap (229)
Canada
May 9, 2007 1:30pm CST
It came to me in something of a flash. The reason that Rumsfeld and all the others were determined to come up with the planning for the Iraq war themselves, rather than leave it to the professional military men.
It's this: if you leave defense to the professionals, then the Republicans can't claim that they are the only party capable of defending America (which they do). If it's all done by professionals, then the only choice is who is going to do a better job running the country - and the scare tactics have to go out the window.
I guess that they thought that no matter how poor a job they did planning, the guys on the ground would just bleed a little more to bail them out. But it looks like the responsibility for the quagmire in Iraq may well come home to roost where it really belongs - on the current administration.
Explains why the Whitehouse was so determined to use tactics on the ground which were shown not to work in Vietnam. The Generals had seen the results of those failed tactics - the politicians just saw they were cheaper...
2 people like this
3 responses
@LoriBee (24)
• United States
11 May 07
I partially agree with you, although I also think it was Rumsfeld's arrogance that made him reject military plans. He thought he could do it lighter, cheaper, and faster, and didn't listen to people who actually knew better. I believe you're right when you say the quagmire will come home to roost exactly where it belongs - on the current administration. The scare tactics are going out the window a little more each day. I don't know many people who take them seriously anymore. I think many people in the administration, as well as some of their friends, are profiting from this war, and they are in no hurry to see it end. They don't seem to care about the lives being lost, as long as there are huge profits to be made. The only good thing I see is that the American people are finally seeing the truth about the mistakes that have been made, and the lies that have been told. They want the quagmire and the war to end, and public opinion has turned against the current administration. That is what will finally bring this mess to an end, unfortunately, not soon enough.
1 person likes this
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
23 Jul 07
I suggest you read the non fiction book, "AMERICAN SOLDIER" by Tommy Franks, General USA Retired. You will discover that you are very much mis-informed as to the planning of the Iraq war.
@muppetsnap (229)
• Canada
23 Jul 07
There is just as much documentary evidence from retired Generals decrying Rumsfeld for his high-handedness and failure to listen to the qualified military experts.
I think Franks made a number of serious errors during the early days in Iraq, and so perhaps he agreed and agrees with the way the early war was conducted. I feel that time has proved him incorrect in his approaches.
1 person likes this
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
23 Jul 07
So, you've read the book already?
My understanding of the whole Iraq invasion is that while there were a few early minor mistakes, it was overall brillant. There has in military history never been so much land conguered so quickly that was defended by so large an army that was defeated so fast by so few with so few casualties.
The generals who were in disagreement with Rumsfield and Franks were dinosaurs still thinking in terms of how wars use to be fought. Rumsfield and Franks were military leaders looking to the future. Results have proven them right. The conquest of Iraq will go down as the most successful invasion of a country ever conducted.
Now, as to the occupation. Of course, that is not going as we'd like, but is a different issue which I've discussed elsewhere already.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
5 Jul 07
It is the job of the Civilians who run the military in the US to set policies for how the war will be fought. It is the job of the commanders on the ground to come up with the strategies and tactics that will be used to carry out the policies handed to them.
The problem in Vietnam was, the civilians who run the military micromanaged the war. That's not how Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of the war on Islamist Extremists have gone.
Btw, anyone with any kind of historic perspective would never call Iraq a "quagmire". There have been fewer deaths and more accomplished in this war than almost every war the U.S. has been involved with.
