Pointy, Not Sharp
Did anyone else happen to notice that it was the French who went into rescue more than a hundred American children from danger zones in the Ivory Coast? The U.S. military arrived on the scene hours later. Not that it would necessarily have made a difference to the safety of the children, but in fact, the French did the rescuing. And I gotta wonder why with all our military might -- what with us being the global policeman ready to stomp any third-world nation who would sass us -- why we didn't get to the scene sooner.
We're planning on thrashing Iraq but we haven't got the capabilities to save a hundred American children from a bunch of fourth-world rebels? Did the State Department, the "intelligence" community, and the military all fail to understand that the situation was getting dicey? Because I could see that several days ago, from here in the wilds of Northern California, just by reading the wire services. I mean, with all this talk about invading Iraq, it's kinda important that we have faith in our military, and I don't.
Three of the country's now-retired leading generals told Congress this week that such a move would be a terrible mistake. These are not light-weights, but the former chair of the Joint Chiefs and the guy in charge of NATO. And a month ago, in a hugely expensive Iraq-model war game, the current U.S. generals had to stop play and start over because they were losing. They claimed the enemy wasn't playing by their rules, which, of course, they wouldn't.
These facts should have set off alarms, but instead, even people who don't like the invasion plan have been all but fawning over how well the Bushies are managing the dog-wagging. Ya gotta wonder what happened to the loyal opposition. Mostly they're hiding with wet pants. Although, there was a glimmer when Bush -- likely diverging from his script -- accused the Democrat-controlled Senate of undermining national security by not giving him everything he's asked for without questions. That prompted top-donkey Daschle to claim foul and to "demand" an apology to the American people. Yeah, right.
It's curious that the bigger cohones in the war-mongering opposition are wearing elephant buttons. Take the gutsy if erratic John McCain who insisted that it was the duty of Congress to explore how and why the CIA, FBI, and INS ignored what at least in hindsight seem like significant pre-attack intelligence leads about the terrorists' plans. He and others proposing an investigation were slammed by the White House as unpatriotic and insensitive to the need for strict security. Responded McCain, "To question American policies and practices in the months and years before Sept. 11 is not to engage in a political witchhunt. To probe deeply but fairly into American policies predating the terrorist attacks is to examine the scale of American leaders' failure to imagine and plan for a contingency that was not, in fact, unimaginable."
Any reader of American military history will tell you that our brass has always been planning for the last war. Our true successes have come when we have responded successfully, in the long run, to surprise attacks. We suffered massive, unnecessary losses on D-Day because of poor planning and execution. Our subsequent charge into Germany was equally ill-conducted and resulted in delays in ending the war and a consequent greater loss of American lives. Vietnam was a military disaster from start to finish. We also messed up Beirut, Mogadishu, and Kosovo because our military heads are pointy but not very sharp.
With the Bush pols trying to start a war to distract the country from an array of deteriorating domestic situations, and with a military that is rich enough but not bright enough, I worry for the parents of the children who will be dispatched to die -- not for honest American interests -- but to elect Republicans to Congress.
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
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