Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
wrote:
We should have declared victory in 1991 when we had it and come HOME.
I really don't want to use the "I" word but that is really why we
stayed. It sure wasn't "to protect the Kurds" and if we just wanted
cheap oil, Saddam would have sold it to us, even if he had Kuwait.
Heck, we had enough military on site in Kuwait to just amble up to
the honchoes, say "we be taking over", and that pretty much would have
given us the 51st state or at least another protectorate.
Yup. That's what's got me so ****ed off with the Bush war doctrine. Rummy
insisted that a skeleton force was all that was needed, and then Bush put
generals in charge who played into what Dumsfield and Bush wanted to hear
"yes, boss, you don't need an overwhelming force". They didn't want a
Schwarzkopf, a Grant, or a Sherman; they wanted toadies. Here's just part of
a letter I sent to the White House, taken from the middle portion of my
letter:
"The GOP, and that includes you, has failed to do what was promised.
I am disgusted by the failure of our Commander-In-Chief. A soldier's best
chance of survival during war has always been the unremitting and merciless
use of our entire arsenal to smash the enemy in so ferocious a manner that
it breaks his desire to continue the fight. I want America to win the battle
in Iraq; but I don't see any evidence that George W. Bush has the will or
the competence to do so.
My 19 year old son is in his sophomore year at Seattle Pacific University as
a 4 year ROTC scholarship recipient. He follows each generation of men in
our family back as far as the American Revolution, who have gratefully
served our Nation. My father left school when he was sixteen and a half
years old to join the Marines in WWII. He fought and distinguished himself
on Iwo Jima, and then later, after leaving the Marines and finishing High
School, he joined the Army and fought in Korea. He served 26 years in the
Army, and I grew up on military bases immersed in our military's culture and
heritage. After graduation from high school, I served during Vietnam.
There has never been the number of troops needed to take ground
once-and-for-all, and to then hold it. I see reluctance to project the might
of our power in which we take the fight to the enemy and wipe him off the
face of the earth. If the enemy is hiding in a mosque, the mosque is not
obliterated. If the enemy is hiding within a section of a town or village,
that section of town or village is not obliterated. If this is a war THAN
FIGHT IT LIKE IT REALLY IS A WAR. Don't you dare tell me that my precious
son's safety is being traded in exchange for a sensitive police action
designed to spare people or property in a piecemeal attempt to root out the
enemy.
You have failed to fight hard enough to make the President understand this
issue.
This President has failed to appoint Generals who have the proper mindset to
effectively wage a war. Worse still is the appearance that Generals are
appointed because they will cow-tow to the wishes of George Bush to only use
a minimal force in Iraq and Afghanistan. If George Bush lacks the foresight
and wisdom and competence needed to order our generals to win this conflict
by unleashing the dogs of war, then bring our sons and daughters home. If
war will be waged as a war, then I will be in continued support. But as of
now, I am fulminating with anger and bitterness toward this Republican
President and Republican Congress. Our military commanders must take a page
from the Sherman Doctrine: make war so horrible, so very hideous, that the
support for the enemy crumples and then grind that enemy to dust and
vanquish him with all due prejudice.
Again, you have failed to fight hard enough to make the President understand
this issue."
--
Dave
www.davebbq.com