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Rich on the Road

by RichardRay from Dallas, TX

Last Post 4 hours Ago


Pointing Fingers on Iraq
Jun 29, 2008 | 2:12 PM
Category: Political
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The U-S Army is displaying remarkable courage and candor -- with the release today of a 696-page report, called "On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign."   It is the Army's historical account of the 18 months following President George W. Bush's declaration of the end of major combat in May 2003.

"US military operations in Iraq following the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein suffered from poor planning and lack of vision."

The study is the second in a series -- the first On Point covered the start of combat through to the ouster of Saddam in April 2003 -- and is described by the authors as "neither triumphant nor defeatist."

"Military leaders and civilian officials were fixated on military triumph and removing Saddam from power, but paid too little attention to the phases that would follow."

This largely backs up what a large number of dissident generals have been saying for several years -- that Donald Rumsfeld and others in the administration totally misread the situation, sent in far too few troops, should never have disbanded the Iraqi Army and generally botched the whole situation.   It's particularly tough on Generally Tommy Franks.

The army's Contemporary Operations Study Team, along with the report authors, said the army "should have insisted on better Phase IV planning and preparations through its voice on the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Some who read this will surely be tempted to blast me for having dared to write on the topic.  Go ahead if you must.  But,  I just think this is really remarkable -- that Army historians clearly have not tried to sugar coat anything.  They have truly (it seems to me) tried to provide "military professionals with a means to understand important and relevant lessons from the army's recent operational experience."

The conclusion that we botched the end game in Iraq is no longer a partisan one.  In fact, John McCain has been saying the same thing for years now. 

What this report says about the United States is that even when we make mistakes we are capable of admitting them.  Hopefully, learning from them.

Rich

 

 

 

 

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Member Comments Total Comments: 15
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cbfan read my blog
Jun 29, 2008 | 3:05 PM

Although it's easy for us at home to put flags, ribbons and clever bumper stickers on our cars, war should never be taken lightly.
The mishandling of this war by this administration was clearly apparent when President Bush uttered the words, "bring it on". Not quite the seriousness needed in my opinion. Those words seem more like one of those bumper stickers rather than a good strategy.
chardoney read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 4:58 AM

I will be more interested in reading what real bi-partisans have to say in 20 years or longer. The facts still remain - we got rid of one of the worse murderous dictators and his 2 barbarian sons, since possibly Hitler. The fact remains that we took Baghdad. The fact remains that we're being very successful in Iraq and the vast majority of the news media is so silent on the topic, you can hear crickets.
Bush had the guts to do what needed to be done in spite of the wimpy left of this country/world. And just as would be expected. the Dems/left are still whining about it and wishing to impede progress, disparage our troops on the ground and sully the President.
Wasn't so in WWI & II when ppl had an understanding of pride and patriotism.

Arm chair quarter backing is so easy.
Actually making HARD DECISIONS takes a man, not a coward; takes principals, not "talking points".
cbfan read my blog
Jun 30, 2008 | 7:17 AM

This report was done by the US Army- not a "liberal" news organization.
Gurkha read my blog
Jun 30, 2008 | 5:00 PM

RR: You wrote "...President George W. Bush's declaration of the end of major combat in May 2003." Actually this is NOT true, Bushy said "Mission Accomplished" back then, now he is flip flopping to "end of major combat" BS explaination.
Great post, however, you will have right wing cockroaches come out of the hole and bash you. First thing they will call you is a liberal, followed by "unpatriotic", followed by "America Hater", followed by "Dictator Appeaser", followed by "Arm Chair QB" and on and on. But you keep telling the truth buddy! This is their grand old tactic to attack your patriotism to shut you up. Don't! Let them shout and cry and moan! Truth will set them free!
cbfan read my blog
Jun 30, 2008 | 5:47 PM

Rich, I often hear people accusing the media of being liberal. I understand that some news style programs do slant one way or the other, e.g. Sean Hannity (right) and Keith Olberman (left), but I don't include these shows as true news media.

I'm just curious as to your experiences as a news insider to whether you have seen these supposed biases. This subject could make a good blog...hint,hint.
Marks read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 5:51 PM

No, Gurkha. Do you ever fully comprehend what you read? Rich says in his post:

The conclusion that we botched the end game in Iraq is no longer a partisan one. In fact, John McCain has been saying the same thing for years now.

What this report says about the United States is that even when we make mistakes we are capable of admitting them. Hopefully, learning from them.

Sounds about right to me, Rich. However, I worry that we might learn them too well. Darfur? "Sorry, can't help." Zimbabwe? "Nope." Iran? "We just hit the "snooze" button..."

When will a crisis be worthy of stopping before it becomes genocide in the future?
Marks read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 5:58 PM

CB, when it comes to news, particularly local like Fox 4, I do not see a bias. I see a market-driven product (in this case we are talking ratings).

However, the national stuff tends to have an agenda, IMHO. How else could CBS make that mistake with Dan Rather and Bush's National Guard "records"...
scottythecomic read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 6:07 PM

You mean like the bumper sticker slogan, Yes We Can!

The only reason Iraq became a drawn out war is because of crybaby Democrats. They did the same darned thing in Vietnam.
RichardRay read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 6:25 PM

On the question of bias. It's been my experience in local news, especially, that everybody tries to play it down the middle -- almost without exception. The newsroom has a wide variety of political views -- just as you find in America. I think our newsroom reflects pretty accurately the mix in Texas.
Clearly at the network level it's different. Sean Hannity and Keith Olberman make no bones about their biases. But, that's not news -- that's talk show and opinion based programming. I'll leave it at that. Except to say that local news is very different.
The bias is generally with the viewer. The other night was a good example. I did a 1:30 pkg outlining John McCain's energy speech but at least one viewer called to complain that we added two lines at the end about Barrack Obama's reaction. You have to give both sides. Many viewers only want to hear their own.

Rich
scottythecomic read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 6:52 PM

CNN is notoriously left though, Rch, save for Glenn Beck.

I do contract work for NBC and by far are they the most liberal! Wow.
Marks read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 6:55 PM

Rich,

You failed to mention what I wanted to read! You are so biased!

I hope you realize I am kidding, but in this medium I better be sure you understand I am kidding - LOL!

Marks
RichardRay read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 6:58 PM

Marks,
I understand fully :)
And, you're right. It's easy to be misunderstood in this medium.
I've been guilty of having a thin skin and misreading. I'm trying to get better.
Rich
Marks read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 9:02 PM

I think in your case the peanut gallery sometimes gets to you, Rich. Not a bad thing!

Sorry, but you are good at what you do (including some wonderful writing - keep doing it please!), and those who comment on a blog are not the same as those who watch you being you.
acoolone read my blog view my photos
Jun 30, 2008 | 10:29 PM

What amaze me Richard are people like you who should know better. If you take all the wars American has been in you will find that none is without mistakes. In fact WWII was full of them. And guess what, the next one will be too.
No two wars are fought the same. So the mistakes we make in this one doesn’t not necessarily mean they will apply to the next one. In fact that would be the first mistake to make if you thought they would. And let’s not forget that hindsight is always 20/20/.
One thing that does ring true in all wars is that politicians should stay out of them and let the men and women who are trained to fight the wars do their jobs. Soldiers never get us into wars, politicians do.
This report is nothing more than I told you so from those in the Army who disagreed with Rumsfeld and others in the administration. Nothing new here, it has been done in other wars. Why people act so surprised about this report is beyond me. Look at some of the ones that came out during and after the Vietnam War.
Many people thought Eisenhower was wrong with the D-Day plans. If it had failed there would have been bad reports all over the place saying I told you so, it just so happen it was a success and he turned out to be a hero.
Anyone who has been in a war will tell you there is a plan a, b, c, d, e, f and get the hell out. Plan a worked and plan b and c didn’t, it now looks like plan e is working. The main point we have to remember is to stop pointing fingers and do what we went there to do.
I have watched Fox 4 for a long time. I agree that it is pretty much down the mid
Dak413 read my blog
Jul 1, 2008 | 5:09 AM

it was said in WWII, that the only place at the pentagon, that everyone knew what they doing , was the latrine , so what really has changed from then till now, in war, there are no rules, so no one actually knows what to expect or plan for , hind sight is always better than foresight , is there anyone here that can say they knew exactly what was gonna happen once this started , if this had been done 10 years earlier, I think it would have been over quickly, al qiada was barely a thought then, and Iran didn't have it's very radical leader, so many unknows when ya start something , but something had to be done, can anyone forsee how many more 911's might have happened if this hadn't been done , I don't think so , in the end, I still think this was a necessary response after the years of them pecking at us , war is never perfect !
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RichardRay

RICH ON THE ROAD I am blessed with a truly remarkable job that for decades now has permitted me to see corners of the world, far and near. When I'm not on the road for Fox4 News in Dallas/Fort Worth, I'm often traveling with my wife Catherine -- occasionally on mission trips in Africa or Latin America with our home church (Prince of Peace Lutheran in Carrollton). My contribution to this page began largely as a Travel-blog -- sharing current and many of my past experiences in traveling America and the globe. I'm tryng, as we go along, to wade into a wider range of topics without getting in too much trouble. Richard Ray

Member Since: 5/29/2006


 

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