Larry Johnson: Another Must Read

[cal04]

The following article, which first appeared at Soldiers for Truth, sheds new light on the arrogance and hubris that is the Bush Administration. The article, Iraq: What Could Have Been, What Should Have Been..., was authored by retired U.S. Army Colonel Richard L. Stouder and details the fact that the debacle unfolding in Iraq is a consequence of the Bush Adminstration ignoring war plans the Army had developed, which if followed would have enabled us to get control of Iraq and avoid the bloody civil war now raging.

Ignoring the professionals and relying on political hacks is the defining characteristic of the Bush Administration. The military tried to tell them more troops would be needed to take over Iraq. Eric Shinseki and others were ignored. The CIA tried to tell them that there was no link between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. Doug Feith set up the Office of Special Plans and set about manufacturing his own bogus intelligence. Then there are the Katrina and Walter Reed disasters. One time is a mistake. Doing the same thing over and over is a pattern of behavior.

(snip)
By Richard L. Stouder, Director Technology Development and Deployment, National Security Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Editor's Note: No editing of this piece has occurred. Some may not like the author's tone, but it is his tone, not DefenseWatch's tone. The excerpt immediately following gives the reader an inkling of the frustration he feels about today's mess in Iraq. It could have, and he argues, should have been different.

I was assigned to US Central Command in 1992 after graduating from the National War College. For my first year I was assigned as the lead for the OPLAN that was the redux of Desert Shield - Desert Storm. The culmination of that first year was Gen Hoar and I briefing the OPLAN for approval to the SecDef. In the room were Dick Cheney, the CJCS, Colin Powell, and the one of Cheney's Undersecs, Paul Wolfowitz. This was the first rewritten OPLAN since the first Gulf War. I think it is illustrative and a portent of things to come when the major sticking point was a discussion of the number of Army and Marine forces and the number of USAF fighter squadrons. The person who was arguing for more Air Force and less ground forces was Wolfowitz. (keep reading . . .)

Iraq: What Could Have Been, What Should Have Been...
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=Unlisted%202007%2edb&command=viewone&id=12

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/03/another_must_re.html

[Dr.Phool]

1. All roads lead back to Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz.

Larry, Curly, and Moe. Just dumber.

[lyonn]

4. Mencken really said that? He was prophetic. nt

[laststeamtrain]

2. K & R. Got to love Larry C, always the straight poop. n/t

[lyonn]

3. Notice who, in 1992, who was in control; H.W. bush

and the next paragraph states:

"I then became the Chief of War Plans Division and began work on the next generation of War Plans. As we were trying to figure out how to execute the requirements in the Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan (JSCAP), the bi-annual document where CINCs are tasked for war planning, we encounter a problem. As George H.W. Bush and Cheney were carrying out the "Peace Dividend" they started an aggressive program to downsize the Armed Forces. As you remember we dramatically cut the size of the military during this timeframe. This reduction of the military was at odds with the tasks to the CINCs in the JSCAP; there were not enough forces to meet the taskings to CINCCENT (SWA MRC) and CINCPAC (Korea MRC). We in CENTCOM were the genesis of the Two MRC strategy when we got Gen Hoar to assign unacceptable risk to our OPLAN when war in SWA followed war in Korea . The major point here is Bush the first and Cheney as the SecDef began the cutting of our military to the point where we could not execute the taskings of the JSCAP."


I did not know that this bunch, bush 1, Cheney, etc., were responsible for downsizing the military. Of course the powers in control now are busy changing history and like to accuse Clinton of downsizing and diminishing the military when it was those idiots, Bush, Cheney, Wolfie, etc. that set the tone and pace before Clinton took over.
And these same idiots take our country to war with their FLAWED LOGIC and PLANNING!

Had Clinton followed such a plan the media would have been all over the flaws and stupidity. I remember watching Sheinsiki (sp?) being drummed out of the military with a pitiful ceremony and decided then that there were many skunks in the wood pile. Rummy was not there and really, no other high official attended. It looked like it took place on a baseball field with skimpy decor.

Keep this searching of the actual records coming! America needs to be aware of how America is being Downsized.

[biscotti]

5. Maybe something to do with SAIC who helped develope Iraq

plans for financial gain. New Vanity Fair article in the March issue.

Secrets
Washington's $8 Billion Shadow
Mega-contractors such as Halliburton and Bechtel supply the government with brawn. But the biggest, most powerful of the "body shops"—SAIC, which employs 44,000 people and took in $8 billion last year—sells brainpower, including a lot of the "expertise" behind the Iraq war.

by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele March 2007
snip:
Civilians at SAIC used to joke that the company had so many admirals and generals in its ranks it could start its own war. Some might argue that, in the case of Iraq, it did.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703?currentPage=1

[Martin Eden]

6. Yes and No

Yes, Bushco ignored the Army's plans and subsequently mismanaged the occupation of Iraq into the disaster now unfolding.

No, "what could have been" in Iraq COULD NOT have been.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq under false pretenses in contravention of international law was WRONG from the start and ultimately DOOMED to failure.