THE GATES OF HELL
I'm not referring to the newly named secretary of defense. As far as I know, he is well qualified.
I'm referring rather to the pre-war warning of Amr Mousa, secretary general of the Arab League: "an invasion (of Iraq) would open the gates of hell."
Iraq is hell, not only for its people, but for our people unfortunate enough to be stuck there. Since the present impasse is unacceptable here at home, there is growing support for Sen. McCain's proposal to send more troops. It's like a poker game: "I'll raise the bet 20,000 (40,000) troops." "We'll see your 20,000 (or 40,000) and raise you back." Sending more troops now will escalate the violence (casualties) and cause ever more Iraqis to join the insurgents. They will take the increase as proof we are determined to stay permanently, as many already believe. 70% say our presence is the main reason for the insurgency.
How did we get into this situation? Before the war then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Shinseki (I've referred to him in previous blogs) told a congressional committee it would take more than 200,000, and possibly three or four hundred thousand troops to do the job. Both Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz told the press and Wolfie told the same committee that was ridiculous, the general
was wrong, and it wouldn't require more than 100,000, if that.
In other words, a career professional with many years of the best training, and combat experience, knew less than these two geniuses who had neither military training nor
experience. And Congress believed the word of the novices over that of the professional!
That's insanity! So we are where we are, and that's that.
And remember, it wasn't just Shinseki's own opinion. He was working with, and spoke for, a
highly qualified staff of experts who had studied this question from every angle. Not only that,
Tony Zinni, the Marine general who had headed Central Command before Gen. Frank, had also
studied the question intensely in case he was called on to attack Iraq. His findings agreed with
those of Shinseki.
Gen. Abizaid told Congress just last week that Shinseki had been right: they needed a lot more troops. We have lost a lot of blood and treasure for that mistake. And opened the gates of hell! Why bring up old controversies? We study history in the hope that we might learn from it. But will we learn?
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
I'm not referring to the newly named secretary of defense. As far as I know, he is well qualified.
I'm referring rather to the pre-war warning of Amr Mousa, secretary general of the Arab League: "an invasion (of Iraq) would open the gates of hell."
Iraq is hell, not only for its people, but for our people unfortunate enough to be stuck there. Since the present impasse is unacceptable here at home, there is growing support for Sen. McCain's proposal to send more troops. It's like a poker game: "I'll raise the bet 20,000 (40,000) troops." "We'll see your 20,000 (or 40,000) and raise you back." Sending more troops now will escalate the violence (casualties) and cause ever more Iraqis to join the insurgents. They will take the increase as proof we are determined to stay permanently, as many already believe. 70% say our presence is the main reason for the insurgency.
How did we get into this situation? Before the war then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Shinseki (I've referred to him in previous blogs) told a congressional committee it would take more than 200,000, and possibly three or four hundred thousand troops to do the job. Both Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz told the press and Wolfie told the same committee that was ridiculous, the general
was wrong, and it wouldn't require more than 100,000, if that.
In other words, a career professional with many years of the best training, and combat experience, knew less than these two geniuses who had neither military training nor
experience. And Congress believed the word of the novices over that of the professional!
That's insanity! So we are where we are, and that's that.
And remember, it wasn't just Shinseki's own opinion. He was working with, and spoke for, a
highly qualified staff of experts who had studied this question from every angle. Not only that,
Tony Zinni, the Marine general who had headed Central Command before Gen. Frank, had also
studied the question intensely in case he was called on to attack Iraq. His findings agreed with
those of Shinseki.
Gen. Abizaid told Congress just last week that Shinseki had been right: they needed a lot more troops. We have lost a lot of blood and treasure for that mistake. And opened the gates of hell! Why bring up old controversies? We study history in the hope that we might learn from it. But will we learn?
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
posted by John Goodwin at
5:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home