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01/12/2004 Archived Entry: "We could have told you that."
We could have told you that.
Chances are pretty good that ThigCo will pay as much attention to this report as they paid to millions of protestors who hit the streets last year. Look for the College of War to be called a 'focus group' sometime soon.
A scathing report published by the Army War College criticises the US's handling of the "war on terrorism", accusing it of taking a detour into an unnecessary war in Iraq and pursuing an unrealistic quest against terrorism that may lead to US wars with nations posing no serious threat.The report, by Professor Jeffrey Record, of the war college at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, warns that as a result of those mistakes, the US Army is "near breaking point".
The report recommends scaling back the scope of the war on terrorism and instead focusing on the narrower threat posed by the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
"The global war on terrorism as currently defined and waged is dangerously indiscriminate and ambitious, and accordingly . . . its parameters should be readjusted," Professor Record said.
The anti-terrorism campaign was "strategically unfocused, promises more than it can deliver and threatens to dissipate US military resources in an endless and hopeless search for absolute security".
The report was released at a time of heightened criticism and doubt about the war in Iraq.
On Sunday, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said he did not know whether any weapons of mass destruction would ever be found in Iraq.
Mr Blair told BBC television interviewer the weapons had not been at sites where military chiefs expected to find them and they might never be found.
In a book published today, a former US treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, said he never saw any evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
In an interview with Time magazine, Mr O'Neill said: "In the 23 months I was there, I never saw anything that I would characterise as evidence of weapons of mass destruction."
Replies: 11 people speak up
well, i feel bad for that professor, he is probobly being fired as we speak, lets just hope he doesnt have plans to fly in any small airplanes...... they could go Wellstone on him
Posted by justin @ 01/12/2004 01:14 PM NY
great timing, if the mediawhores can stop reporting on jackson and dean. when the wilson/cia thing exploded, whistle ass was in africa.
Posted by jeff @ 01/12/2004 01:46 PM NY
The Washington Post quotes:
Larry DiRita, the top Pentagon spokesman, said he had not read the Record study. He added: "If the conclusion is that we need to be scaling back in the global war on terrorism, it's not likely to be on my reading list anytime soon."
Isn't the whole idea of the Army War College to flesh out multiple points of view to be studied and taken into consideration? Here we have the Pentagon refusing to even acknowledge an alternate point of view. A view, as noted in the same article:
But retired Army Col. Douglas C. Lovelace Jr., director of the Strategic Studies Institute, whose Web site carries Record's 56-page monograph, hardly distanced himself from it. "I think that the substance that Jeff brings out in the article really, really needs to be considered," he said.
Hear no, see no, etc.
The Post article is at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8435-2004Jan11?language=printer
Posted by Larry Dean @ 01/12/2004 03:56 PM NY
"If the conclusion is that we need to be scaling back in the global war on terrorism, it's not likely to be on my reading list anytime soon." What an arrogant fuckin thing to say. Wait, could he be a Bush appointee???? But I'll tell you what, Mr. Record is a very 'heavy hitter' who would make some of the bushies look like teenage thugs:
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/facbios/facbio-r.htm#record
Posted by Andre @ 01/12/2004 08:26 PM NY
The report doesn't exactly fit in with the neo-con Plan, does it; and what does the Army College of War know, anyway?
I can't believe this sits well with the officer corps; how much longer is the military going to take this crap?
Posted by andante @ 01/12/2004 10:11 PM NY
Do you think a military coupe would be better or worse than what is going on now? Most of the people in the military are actually fairly idealistic, and generally value American values, or else they wouldn’t have volunteered. I think that I would respect a real military dictator more than I respect chicken George. Besides, with a real military dictator, it would be our obligation to overthrow the government, as opposed to now where the issue is sort of in limbo. Either way. All emperors must learn that they rule because of the military, not in spite of them. If you lose your military support, you lose your power. And Bush is definitely pushing it. At the least they probably won’t vote for him.
Posted by justin @ 01/12/2004 11:36 PM NY
"The global war on terrorism as currently defined and waged is dangerously indiscriminate and ambitious, and accordingly . . . its parameters should be readjusted," Professor Record said.
"The anti-terrorism campaign was "strategically unfocused, promises more than it can deliver and threatens to dissipate US military resources in an endless and hopeless search for absolute security"."
this sounds like the work of an evil genius...ahh..but it is
Posted by yonkers @ 01/13/2004 04:16 AM NY
Let's see, the list of Fiends & Evildoers Who Hate America now includes:
former Bush cabinet members;
the US Army War College;
and a new and perhaps unexpected addition, Forbes Magazine. Discussing any valid reasons why other countries might Hate America would seem to qualify one for the Hates America list as well.
http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2004/01/13/rtr1208661.html
Posted by Xan @ 01/13/2004 10:43 AM NY
Xan,
I seriously doubt if Forbes Magazine is on the Bush Cabal's hit list. The publisher, ghoulish Steve Forbes, is a regular zombie on Fox News. Zombie Steve is utterly without charm, wit, or a pulse.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 01/13/2004 12:44 PM NY
true, but he has a shit-ton of money, which is all that matters in this country
Posted by justin @ 01/13/2004 02:14 PM NY
How did Steve Forbes turn out to be such a complete twit? I knew his old man (from my days hanging with a certain infamous NYC biker gang), and he was all right.
He used to show up every Wednesday on one of his massive Harley collection at The Cat Club, buy us all drinks for a couple of hours, then head home.
He mighta been a capitalist, but his son is fo shizzy a capitalist tool.
Posted by editor @ 01/14/2004 03:10 AM NY
