Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Proof that John Kerry is Unfit for Command -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nspolar who wrote (4337)	8/29/2004 5:38:52 PM
From: chowder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27181

nspolar, thanks for the kind words. I haven't read Hackworth's analysis of the war in Viet Nam or the war in Iraq. I recall reading a chapter or two of a book of his where he talked about officers getting medals for actions they didn't participate in. I think it was called resume building since most of the military knew it was a war the politicians weren't going to let them win. (I'm not inferring those comments towards Kerry, merely stating that it did go on.) I'm in the process of reading the Pentagon Papers. If we are to believe Dr Ellsberg, then he and others who did the research on Viet Nam prior to our getting involved, stated from day one that we couldn't win there outside of using nuclear weapons. Dr Ellsberg and the Rand Corporation were commissioned to study every means possible to insure nuclear weapons were not used. For some reason President Johnson was intent on escalating our presence in that part of the world. He instituted plans to start a war there and he lied to the American public about the events in the Tonkin Gulf and the rest is history. If Hackworth is saying we are fighting this terrorist thing incorrectly, then his views are aligned with mine. We are. There were other priorities that should have taken place. One of those things, in my opinion, is that we shouldn't try to build a coalition. Building coalitions take time and allow the enemy to prepare or escape. Bin Laden expected an immediate response to 9/11 and was delighted when it didn't come. It allowed them time to relocate their fighters. In Tora Bora, we should have sealed off the border to Pakistan before we struck. We gave to much responsibility to Pakistanis to seal the border and it didn't happen. There were those who were sympathetic to bin Laden who allowed al Qaeda troops to escape into Pakistan. We shouldn't be fighting a police action either. If you want to win a war, you have to commit to killing the enemy. To allow the enemy off the hook, in the spirit of political correctness, and allow them to fight another day, will only bring on more disasters later on down the road. Our country took over 100 years before they allowed women to vote and we embraced Democracy from day one. It took over 100 years to free the slaves and we embraced Democracy from day one. It took over 150 years before we allowed black and white children to go to school together and we embraced Democracy from day one. Over 200 years later we still have Affirmative Action laws for the equal opportunity to work and provide a living for family members and we embraced Democracy from day one. And we have those who think we can install a Democratic style of government, in a land that has done things differently for thousands of years, and then go home in six months and all is well. I don't see how. I see military presence in that region for a long time. Can you point me in the direction to gather Hackworth's views of the war. I'd like to read them. dabum