From: Sonny Heath (sonny@defuniak.com)
Date: Tue Oct 19 2004 - 21:33:36 PDT
We'll definitely be responding to a sizable threat if we turn and run like
you obviously want us to do by electing kerry and it'll be in all our back
yards. I can't for the life of me understand why you can't see this Steve.
Sonny
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Grammont <islander@midmaine.com>
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] mil veh war story
> Ryan,
>
> >Well, I think people'd have been hard pressed to
> >get FDR to admit any mistakes in his prosecution
> >of the Second World War. Doing so could have
> >given some good material for Hitler or Tojo to
> >use in their political machines alone. Or some
> >weak point to target.
>
> But Bush won't admit to making any mistakes at all. In the Debates he
> was asked point blank to name three things he felt he made a mistake on
> since taking office. ANYTHING. He completely and utterly dodged the
> question. One thing I will say for Bush, he is at least consistent. No
> mistakes domestically or abroad.
>
> >Steve, while not another 2/3s of troops, remember
> >the 4th ID was cooling it's heels out in the
> >harbors off the coast of Turkey while everyone
> >else was going in. A mech Division coming in from
> >the north vs the much smaller balance of Kurds
> >and SF dudes would have made a serious difference
> >I think.
>
> If that is the case then perhaps Bush should have either waited for the
> Turkish gov't to change its mind or had the 4th ID redeployed. His
> father had the whole Coalition sit in the desert for weeks and weeks in
> order to get the conditions right conditions. What was the big rush? A
> few weeks certainly wouldn't have mattered.
>
> >How much of the remaining ready reserve would
> >have been required to provide the troop numbers
> >that the Current AAR's are saying were needed to
> >prevent the insurgent war from blooming? How many
> >more NG and Reserve units would have required
> >activation and how many would have been able to
> >activate and train up to required levels in time?
>
> So, if you go to a car dealer and ask how much a car is, and you don't
> have enough money, do you pay him what you happen to have because that's
> all you have and expect to drive the car away without complications?
>
> >I don't ask simple questions do I?
>
> No, and that is exactly why the Bush Admin ignored the Army and retired
> its head when he gave the bad news that the war could not be done "on the
> cheap".
>
> >Mind you I'm keeping this strictly military
> >tactics/strategy based as I'm hoping that's
> >sufficiently OT for the list and those not
> >wanting to discuss politics.
>
> I'm trying to keep this strictly military as well. The Army was correct
> that more troops were needed. Even those who say the war isn't going
> terrible right now (as many claim) would be hard pressed to say things
> wouldn't be a lot better now if we had more troops early on. No
> substitute for boots on the ground.
>
> Unfortunately the Army's troop request was not practical because it was
> already stretched too thin with commitments all over the globe. They
> said this in plain English and were ignored because it was not the
> "correct" answer ("bzzzzt. I'm sorry, the answer we were looking for was
> 130,000, not 300,000 to 500,000. That's the end of the game for you.
> Here's your retirement papers. Thanks for playing").
>
> Many have been saying since the early 1990s that US commitments needed to
> be scaled back so that we could respond to a sizable threat on our own
> without waiting (as we had to do in Gulf War One). But that was not the
> case in 2002. In Gulf War One the troop shortage was overcome by making
> a much larger coalition where what the US lacked were made up for by
> other nations. The ground war was even put on hold in order to retrain
> several US National Guard and allied formations which were deemed not
> ready for combat operations. Some tough negotiations and decisions were
> made, including the one to not finish off Saddam. I think Bush Sr. (whom
> I voted for) did it the right way. I just wish the apple fell much
> closer to the tree.
>
> Steve
>
>
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