Rummy's sly Clinton bashing yesterday repeated by Tommy Franks on Today

[underpants]

No video available yet (see link below) but usually is in the afternoon.

So Rummy's answer yesterday (lots of coverage of that) about how "You got to war with the Army you have not the Army you want or the Army you will have in the future" was part of the discussion between Katie Couric and Retired Gen. Tommy Franks in a segment titled "Dissension in the Ranks".

Franks tried to jump the gun by saying how sure he was that Rummy immediately put someone to work on "the math" of how the armor kits and armored vehicles can get to the soldiers as soon as possible.

Couric seemed to be having none of it saying, "But this isn't anything new. We heard about this over a year ago..."

Then Franks said (~close quote)~"You have to remember (realize) that this was (basically) a Cold War military and that in the last THREE YEARS every effort has been made to modernize it"~


So Franks steps up to the plate for them once again. He knows which side of his bread the butter is on no doubt, expect to see/hear him make the rounds of the echo chamber in the near future with his book not so subtly mentioned.

The video SHOULD be available here later today (unless it is scrubbed like Norm Coleman's appearance last week)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/?ta=y

[shoelace414]

1. When is it going to stop being Clinton's fault?

They've been in office for four years now.

[yardwork]

2. This is total b.s. Clinton left the military in excellent shape!

bushco squandered it with this stupid invasion and occupation of Iraq.

[underpants]

6. The ONLY tangible thing W did to or for the military pre-war was...

the Berets and many in the military didn't like that one bit-they used to only be for the more elite.

COLA increases don't count either because they get those almost every year.

The missiles were upgraded (from a sad 30% accuracy to 7-80% accuracy-still insufficient use of tax dollars IMHO) among other things.

When I last climbed out of a Bradley in '93 there weren't any computers on board to distinguish friendly from foe and there is no way they created, produced, and installed all those units in the time since W was installed to the start of the IRaq war-that technology is THE reason we have had so few armor friendly fires (not that I have heard of any though) as compared to Gulf1 where all of our casualties were accidents or friendly fires.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. Anyone hear the 41 yo marine on Randi Rhodes' show yesterday

who said that Clinton gutted the military? Randi quickly shut him up. :-)

[Pirate Smile]

3. Frank Gaffney(sp) neocon nut did the same thing last night on Hardball.

It was disgusting and unbelievable.

They do always manage to get their talking points and all stick with them. Sick bastards.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Damn! It takes more than three years to build a tank?

Or is it that they don't have enough money to contract for equipment? Maybe they can ask the rich to return those tax dollars?

[ktowntennesseedem]

5. They were planning to invade before Florida chads were counted.

So why didn't they prepare enough armor during that time?

Simple. They thought we would be through with the combat within a week or two, and all we would be doing now is helping to rebuild a nation hand-in-hand with an adoring and appreciative people. They will love us so much we probably won't even need guns!

Don't know which has been more catastrophic: their deceit or their stubbornness.

:hurts:

[underpants]

8. Their rosey assumption were the most catstrophic

"candy and flowers"

"cakewalk" -well it was with Clinton's military in the invasion part.

The Daily Show on Monday (I think) showed Wolfowitx testifying before Congress that I couldn't imagine thatthe occupation force ("post invasion" as it was called then) could possibly required more troops than the invasion.


Oh and the failure to secure major cities and ammo dumps AS they rolled through has to be the single biggest blunder of them all and yes that includes dissolving the Iraqi Army.

[charlie]

10. Yep. Candy and flowers

Tommy Franks bought the rosy scenario, too. Which is something no wartime military commander has any excuse for doing. Tommy fucked up.

Gen. Tommy R. Franks climbed out of a C-130 plane at the Baghdad airport on April 16, 2003, and pumped his fist into the air. American troops had pushed into the capital of liberated Iraq little more than a week before, and it was the war commander's first visit to the city.

...

Huddling in a drawing room with his top commanders, General Franks told them it was time to make plans to leave. Combat forces should be prepared to start pulling out within 60 days if all went as expected, he said. By September, the more than 140,000 troops in Iraq could be down to little more than a division, about 30,000 troops.

...

As the Baghdad meeting drew to a close, the president in a teleconference congratulated the commanders on a job well done. Afterward, they posed for photos and puffed on victory cigars.

http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/iraq/2574.html

[Mika]

9. The neocon plan is to destroy America.

All of it.

[leesa]

7. They CHOSE to invade Iraq, there is zero excuse for not being prepared

They yapped about it for months and months. They stole billions out of the treasury for themselves that could have been used to upgrade and purchase whatever they needed.

[moondust]

11. The Humvee was first deployed in the 80s (Reagan).

Great design, eh? Combat patrol vehicle without armor. Briiliant.

[underpants]

14. Actually they are great vehicles- easy to fix

they can go just about anywhere but in this situation no they aren't that great. Gee think someone might have wanted to think that out BEFORE we invaded?

[VaYallaDawg]

12. I nominate Franks for Undersecretary of Toadiness.

His boss could be Rush Limbo.

[underpants]

13. Yes I understand the position is still open

Condi can't do everything now can she?

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=1060&pg=2

[VaYallaDawg]

16. She's pretty good at handling most chores

given to her by her husb... oops ... boss.

[spanone]

17. Hey Tommy boy, shut the fuck up and enjoy your retirement

[AlCzervik]

18. Shame, shame, shame-disgusting

Rumsfeld is a pig and so is Franks.

[underpants]

19. ***VIDEO LINK****

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3032633/?ta=y

#5 or 13 if this page doesn't take you right to it.

at about the 4:45 mark (of 8:28)

My quoting above was off but the gist of it is the same.