SACK'UM and RACK'UM!!

[Gimpy]

Here's what the esteemed Col. David Hackworth has to say about the latest bit of incompetence at the Pentagon!

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Sack ?Em and Rack ?Em

By David H. Hackworth


America would be a whole lot safer if the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, was flying for Virgin Airlines, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was competing on ?Survivor.? Both war leaders have done so miserable a job honchoing the military side of our critical conflict against global terrorism, and in the process so jeopardized our national security, that they should be sacked for dereliction of duty.



Contrary to continuing political spin, Iraq and Afghanistan both are running sores with little promise of even a long-term turnaround, and our world today is far more dangerous than it was before 9/11. Unless there's a 180-degree change in overall strategy, the USA is doomed to follow the same bloody path through these two brutal killing fields that the Soviet Union took in Afghanistan.



The mighty sword that Rumsfeld and Myers inherited four years ago ? the finest military force in the world ? is now chipped and dulled...(Inherited from the Clinton Administration BTW........editorial comment by Gimp ) ....And the word is that it will take at least a decade to get our overextended, bone-tired soldiers and Marines and their worn-out gear back in shape.



Top generals like former NATO commander Wes Clark and a squad of retired and active-duty four-stars warned long before the invasion of Iraq: Don?t go there. It doesn?t involve our national security. It?s not the main objective in our war with international terrorism. Even retired four-star Colin Powell said that if we go to Iraq and break the china, we own it. But know-it-all Rumsfeld and go-along-to-get-along Myers totally ignored this sound military advice.



Before the invasion of Iraq, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, a distinguished soldier with counter-guerrilla campaigns in Vietnam and Bosnia under his pistol belt, was asked by Congress how many soldiers he thought would be needed for the occupation phase in Iraq. His response: A minimum of 200,000.



Rumsfeld treated this courageous soldier ? who left half a foot in the Vietnam Delta ? like a leper for telling a truth that was obviously contrary to party lockstep. And Shinseki?s spot-on troop estimate was discredited and ridiculed by senior Pentagon chicken hawks like Paul Wolfowitz, a man who dodged the draft during Vietnam and wouldn?t know a tank from a Toyota.



Even though Rumsfeld and Myers know zilch about ground fighting in an insurgent environment, they were convinced ?Shock ?n? Awe? would do the trick, just as another military dilettante, former SecDef Robert McNamara, believed the big hammer would win in Vietnam, a war where the USA dropped three times the bomb tonnage and used twice the artillery firepower than was used in all of World War II.



Space doesn?t allow for the long laundry list of what went wrong after the Iraqi army was predictably defeated by a brilliant ?Wham, Bam, Goodbye Saddam? air-and-ground attack and the present occupation phase kicked off. But the key screw-ups are:



* Our ground units went in far too light. They didn?t have ? and still don?t have ? sufficiently trained numbers and the right force mix to cope with the growing mess on the ground.



* There wasn?t an effective plan to deal with the looting, rioting and civil disorder or the early insurgent attacks. Army and Marine skippers in Iraq from company to division tried to put out four-alarm fires without sufficient force, equipment and logistics. Crisis management prevailed.



* Iraqi police, civil-defense corps, the regular army and border-patrol units ? which could have prevented much of the chaos and civil disobedience that followed ? were precipitously disbanded.



In this column on April 1, 2003, when many Americans and all the White House and Pentagon war hawks were gloating about the easy victory in Iraq, I wrote: ?Hopefully ... he (G.W. Bush) won?t make the mistake of another Texas president who didn?t sack his SecDef and Joint Chiefs chairman straight away for their screw-ups? (See ?Stuck in the Quicksand,? DefenseWatch, Apr. 1, 2003).



Fox?s Brit Hume publicly ridiculed my analysis, much like Wolfowitz did Shinseki?s. I wonder if Hume and Wolfowitz like their crow served hot or cold .



Our president says he?s not big on reading newspapers. But perhaps former librarian Laura will share this column with her husband and suggest he follow Harry Truman?s example of firing his inept SecDef when the Korean War was going badly.



--Eilhys England contributed to this column.


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Col. David H. Hackworth (USA Ret.) is SFTT.org co-founder and Senior Military Columnist for DefenseWatch magazine. For information on his many books, go to his home page at Hackworth.com, wehre you can sign in for his free weekly Defending America. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831. His newest book is ?Steel My Soldiers? Hearts.? ? 2004 David H. Hackworth. Please send Feedback responses to dwfeedback@yahoo.com
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[Gimpy]

He (Bush) ain't big on "reading" ANYTHING..............apparently!

It's much too hard with an IQ hovering around 90 or so!

[SuperScout]

Once again, we are treated to the fiery rhetoric of Davy Hackworth, and like many of his forays in the Delta of Vietnam, he uses a lot of ammo, but doesn't have much to show as results, except possibly friendly casualties. He cites Wesley Clark, aka Hillbilly Lite, as some sort of expert of how to win a war. Clark was relieved for ineptitude, and demonstrated his political acumen months later by allowing Michael Moore to endorse his flawed presidential campaign. Gen. Shinseki is hardly an expert on counter-guerrilla operations, as evidenced by the continuing
failure of a secure peace in Bosnia/Herzegovia.

We might ask Hack for an example of a war plan that went exactly as written, without hitches, bumps, mistakes, and an occasional re-write. His own long and distinguished career is filled with SNAFU after SNAFU, at least according to his own autobiography. Maybe Hack just needs to go back an re-read what we wrote for all to read long ago. And his snide comment about the President not being big on reading newspapers: maybe Gimpy would be kind enough to remind the colonel that newspapers can be read on the Internet. $50 in my pocket says GWB's IQ is higher than Gimpy's.

[Gimpy]

ENTITLEMENTS OF COL. DAVID H. HACKWORTH
(U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)

AWARDS & DECORATIONS
COLONEL DAVID H. HACKWORTH
(U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)




Individual Decorations & Service Medals:
Distinguished Service Cross (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Silver Star (with nine Oak Leaf Clusters)
Legion of Merit (with three Oak Leaf Clusters)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal (with "V" Device & seven Oak Leaf Clusters)(Seven of the awards for heroism)
Purple Heart (with seven Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Medal (with "V" Device & Numeral 34)(One for heroism and 33 for aerial achievement)
Army Commendation Medal (w/ "V" Device & 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Good Conduct Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany and Japan Clasps)
National Defense Service Medal (with one Bronze Service Star)
Korean Service Medal (with Service Stars for eight campaigns)
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Vietnam Service Medal (2 Silver Service Stars = 10 campaigns)
Armed Forces Reserve Medal
Unit Awards:

Presidential Unit Citation
Valorous Unit Award (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
Meritorious Unit Commendation
Badges & Tabs:

Combat Infantryman Badge (w/ one Star; representing 2 awards)
Master Parachutist Badge
Army General Staff Identification Badge
Foreign Awards:

United Nations Service Medal (Korea)
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960)
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Gold Stars)
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Silver Stars)
Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal (1st Class)
Vietnam Staff Service Medal (1st Class)
Vietnam Army Distinguished Service Order, 2d Class
Vietnam Parachutist Badge (Master Level)
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (with three Palm oak leaf clusters)
Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal, First Class Unit Citation (with one Palm oak leaf cluster)
World War II Merchant Marine Awards:

Pacific War Zone Bar
Victory Medal

Note: As per a Department of the Army audit conducted by COL Pam Mitchell, Chief Personnel ServiceSupport Division on May 6 1999.
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PS............I'll put my 149 IQ up against G--DUMB-YAs" any day of the week!

Super................I'll forward you an address to send me that $50,.............OK???

[SuperScout]

.... and your point is? Are you automatically equating rows of ribbons with intellect? That's the most illogical standard of smarts I've ever heard of. Naturally, I'm smarter than you, (you only at 149? Whatsamatta: you been dropped on your head too many times?) but having more ribbons is strictly incidental, and in some cases, almost accidental!

One of my former classmates, now LTG Bill Wallace, doing his tour in the sandbox, indicates that there is not just consensus among the stars, but unanimity that more troops are not needed, contrary to what the non-participants are whining about. In a learn-as-you-go type of war, such as the current counter-terrorism campaigns, tactics, techniques and useful tricks are constantly evolving. And since we 've never been engaged in a counter-terrorism effort until recently, the critics are pretty much grasping at straws, trying to hang their complaints on flotsam and martial detritus.

[Gimpy]

again!

No....................I was NOT "automatically equating rows of ribbons with intellect?"

I was merely showing that his chest "salad" equates to a knowledge & experience that expertly qualifies him to offer up relevant & purposeful information regarding the subject matter.

I think that I'll just have to go with Hacks "assesment" of the situation rather than yours (or your classmates for that matter)!

Of course, since you're "smarter" than either "Hack" or me (ha...ha...ha) what does HE know, huh??? :cd: :cd: :cd:

[SuperScout]

Then again, Gimpy, if you're going to equate salad with knowledge and experience, I fully expect you to be doing some serious genuflecting in my direction!

While I respect Hack's service, and usually agree with his assessments, he isn't always correct, and tends to run his mouth at an rpm far exceeding either his brainpower or the facts. Had he been a bit more able to operate with a balanced rpm/thinking/speaking paradigm, he would have been promoted far beyond his retired rank. He is, after all, still selling his views and expertise, and is necessarily biased, as we are all.