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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pompsander who wrote (753282)	11/4/2006 5:01:43 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

"Politics trumped intelligence on Web site Tribune Editorial Article Last Updated:11/03/2006 08:25:40 PM MST Some people just can't take no for an answer. The U.S. invasion of Iraq did not turn up any substantial evidence of a reconstituted nuclear or biological weapons program by Saddam Hussein. But Bush administration sympathizers were so distrustful of U.S. intelligence agencies that they hatched a scheme to post tens of thousands of captured Iraqi documents on a Web site called "Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal." The idea was that if these documents were available to all comers, maybe independent scholars or amateur sleuths would turn up some evidence to support the Bush rationale for the invasion. But there was a problem. The New York Times reported Friday that the documents included technical information that could help the enemies of the United States to build a nuclear bomb. It wasn't the kind of stuff that would be useful to a mad scientist working in his garage or a terrorist tinkering in a cave, but it could help a technologically sophisticated state that was running a clandestine nuclear program, say, Iran or North Korea. It would appear, then, that the Republican gang that can't shoot straight in the White House and Congress has once again, through its incompetence, willful refusal to accept facts and devotion to ideological spin, done something stupid that could imperil national security. And the wonder of it all is that they have done it in the name of national security. As the Times was about to break its story, which was based on concerned European diplomats and the International Atomic Energy Agency sending up red flares, the director of national intelligence pulled the Web site down pending further review of the documents. So who do the American people have to thank for this latest bit of buffoonery? The Times story says it began with conservative publications and politicians, who mounted a campaign for the online archive. The Web site was championed in Congress by Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., his counterpart in the Senate. Thanks, guys. Need we say it? While it is generally a good idea to make government documents available to the widest possible audience, that does not extend to nuclear cookbooks.

To: pompsander who wrote (753282)	11/4/2006 8:12:54 PM
From: TideGlider	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

I don't know enough about what was posted and who posted it. I also give little credence to anything in the few weeks before an election. I don't read the Military Times and I would guess you hadn't either until now. I have no idea what their editorial status is and who publishes the periodical. I believe if there was seriously dangerous materials placed on the net, there should be an inquiry to determine who did it, why and by what authority.

To: pompsander who wrote (753282)	11/4/2006 9:48:34 PM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 769670

Pompsander: I checked the "Military Times". Found it to be the umbrella company that publishes the trade papers in the various names of Armed Forces. I do recall reading the Navy Times while in the Marine Corps, however it was never considered a source of information. Just ads, jokes, ship commissions etc. Our preferred publication was Penthouse and of course Playboy magazine and yes we did read the articles. One thing a Marine, Sailor or Soldier wants is to be current and those papers certainly were of little interest. To be quite honest I believe if one looks closely at the history of those periodicals, their distribution and purchasing might make for an very interesting revelation in itself. You seem to lend credence to an editorial by a person of whom you know nothing at all. However, lets say the editorial was written by someone with serious military credentials. Washington has his detractors an even back stabbers. They may have had better ideas, maybe terrible ideas, but magazines don't run wars. The opinion provided is just that, opinion. I have my own opinions on the war and they differ varying degrees with the administration, trade journals and pundits. The article is a point of argument and should be discussed. It isn't a finding of fact or anything greater than what comes from other newspapers and magazines. That is my opinion...

To: pompsander who wrote (753282)	11/4/2006 10:55:14 PM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 769670

Military men often have varid opinion as I noted before. DEFENDING AMERICA David H. Hackworth 8 October 1996 LEST WE FORGET MOGADISHU Hackworth reporting for duty. Phase I of the book tour was like being on a hot Landing Zone, except no one was firing real bullets. Phase II kicks off next week to places like Austin, San Antonio and Fort Lauderdale. But I've had a few days of R&R -- and reflection. Three years ago this week, Casey Joyce was killed in an action in Somalia. Seventeen other fine warriors also died on 3 October 1993, and almost 100 more were shot up. Casey's death was a personal tragedy. His father Larry and I soldiered together. The Joyces were like family to me. When I got the word Casey was gunned down, I felt as though my own son had died. Casey was killed because he didn't have body armor covering his back. Some jerk up the chain of command wanted to lighten his load. Instead, he ended the boy's life. Casey and his mates died in vain on a dumb mission. That's why I wrote Hazardous Duty. I wanted the American people to learn the truth and to know what kind of damn fools we have in the White House, the Pentagon and among our military's senior ranks. Carelessness, incompetence and poor judgment caused Casey's death. Bill Clinton, his inept National Security dorks and his gutless generals -- from Colin Powell and Joe Hoar to Thomas Montgomery and William Garrison -- failed to protect our fine warriors. Now three years later, no one has been held accountable or responsible. Most of the main players like Colin Powell are retired, sitting on boards pulling in big dough, and Bill Clinton is about to be re-elected. No one except the loved ones of the dead and the disabled remember what happened in Mogadishu. The Ranger Task Force after-report has been classified Top Secret and is sealed, locked away because Clinton, assisted by his go-along-to-get-along generals, doesn't want the truth to get out, especially right before the November elections. The story of our warriors, who fought in one of the most valiant infantry actions of this century, will never be told. The facts have been hidden. Because the whole stinking action was covered up, our fighters are doomed yet again to repeat the same mistakes somewhere down the track. Mogadishu was an exact replay of Vietnam, but in a smaller way -- 18 body bags versus 58,000. But the mistakes were the same: arrogance on the part of senior leaders; failure to know the enemy; over reliance on firepower and technology; inept intelligence and bad planning; and wrongheaded, cowboy-like leadership. At least if an honest examination of the fight had been made and the causes of the errors that killed good men identified, lessons could have been learned. For 51 years now, I've watched the death wheel spin, and still the top brass from the White House to the generals in the field never get it right. And it's always grunts that pay the price -- fine young men like Casey Joyce. Look at the recent terrorist bombing at a U.S. Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Nineteen American dead. Recent findings revealed that the causes for this disaster came from sloppy generals, from the Chairman of the Joint Chief to the base CG who ignored specific warnings that the apartment complex could be easily attacked; slack, badly briefed sentries; an unwieldy command structure; and poor intelligence. Remember the Beirut Marine barracks bombing in 1983 that killed 241 of our warriors? The exact same factors that killed our airmen in the desert are what killed our leathernecks in Lebanon a decade earlier. Bad leadership has killed too many warriors. But the problem is easy to fix. Run a bulldozer through the offices of the President's security advisors and the plush foxholes of all the Perfumed Princes. Bury the lot of them in trenches as the 1st Division did the Iraqis during the Gulf War, and replace them with the extraordinary warriors that make up the ranks -- men that haven't forgotten the basics of troop leadership. That's close to what General George Marshall did in 1942 when the USA was down for the count -- and it worked.