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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (130639)	4/30/2004 2:56:08 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Grit your teeth When President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were testifying yesterday in a closed-door Oval Office meeting with September 11 commission members — its mandate: to provide a "full and complete accounting" of the terrorist attacks — the National World War II Memorial opened on the Mall. What better day to call on an "old World War II Marine" who provides unique observations about intelligence failures during that war and the war in Iraq today. "When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, everyone understood that serious blunders on our part had contributed to the Japanese success," says John K. McLean of Alexandria. Yet "unlike today, an inquiry into the disaster was conducted in private and the results not made public until after the end of the war, so as to avoid a severe distraction to the war effort and encouragement to the enemy. "Were there intelligence failures? Yes, plenty. The unknown underwater obstacles at Tarawa and the failure to detect the German buildup that led to the Battle of the Bulge in Europe, to name a couple," he says. "Prior to our attack on Iwo Jima, I was told to expect no more than 13,000 Japanese defenders and a three- to five-day operation. There were actually 23,000 Japanese troops, and the operation lasted five weeks with unexpectedly heavy Marine casualties, the last pocket being our regimental zone of responsibility." But, the veteran says, "Not one Marine returned home to denounce the war, accuse fellow Marines of massive atrocities, and attack the president for bad intelligence and lying to the people. We just gritted our teeth and finished the job. ... "The behavior of the Democrat opposition today is disgraceful and presents to the world a spectacle of national disunity that gives aid and comfort to our enemies. It ought to be an affront to every patriotic American."