Somebody should remind President Bush that as Commander-in-Chief he is our war czar.
I thought you might agree with me. When I have done a "fantasy war" in Afganistan right after 911, it always comes out that the leader of that war is appointed by Bush as his "Field Marshall." Reporting directly to him, and working out of an office next to him so that the rest of the DC crowd can't get around him.
The key authority needed? The right to relieve immediately anybody in the DOD. Without that, it couldn't be done. His staff? The "Jedi Knights" at Carlisle. The best Colonels in the service.
The plan? Speed, speed, speed!
First, while giving Musharraf the "come to Jesus" ultimatum that he was given, and setting up a base in one of the "Stans," [as was done] "Isolate the Battlefield." Use the Carrier air off Pakistan to interdict ALL roads in and out of Afghanistan, taking out any vehicles. Nothing moves in or out. Don't waste time pounding rubble. Kill people.
Due to DOD and CENTCOM foot-dragging, no A Teams went in for 4 weeks. This time get them in quickly with AF controllers and start killing all Taliban and Al Qaeda forces. Go right for where they are headquartered, in the Afghan Mosques. [send all DOD JAGS on vacation.]
Since you KNOW that Osama is planning to escape though Tora Bora, set up the Ranger groups needed there as a barrier, and use the AF, as it was used, only more so, to kill all of them. No calls for surrender. Black Flag them all.
The hardest part of this approach, [other than the 10 Flags that would have to have been relieved before the rest of the knew that you meant it] would have been the last two weeks of battle around 2001 Christmas time, when you were making sure that flies were on the eyeballs of all the bad guys. This is when enormous DC and worldwide pressure would have tried to shut down the operation prematurely. The Field Marshall running it would have been able to complete the operation only if he had been able to keep the battlefield isolated, so that only he and his tight group knew what was really going on.
A "fantasy war?" Yes. But based on what was known at the time. It would have almost completely wiped out Osama and company, plus a lot of Salafi Jihadists of all types from around the world. And most importantly, their operation.
The key thing this sequence points out? The main battle would not have been getting Osama and Co. That would have been the easy part. The hard part would have been getting the DC and DOD people to do as they were told, and not leak.
This points our why Bush and Company are desperately looking for a "Czar." They don't want another level of bureaucracy, they just want one man to have the authority to fight this war. They are at their wits end to get our Military to do what they want. |
