At least five more US soldiers died in Iraq over the
last 24 hours. For what? The Emperor has no uniform...
Retired US Marine Corp. Major General William A.
Whitlow, Washington Post: Our service members are the
ultimate victims of this incomplete strategy,
misguided policy and false intelligence. It is inconceivable and derelict not to have a viable war termination strategy for an operation as complex as a major theater war. America's citizens and our service
members deserve far better for their sacrifices. This
combination of things -- misleading the president with
false intelligence and omitting a principal element
from our war strategy -- is reason enough to seek
change in the vice presidency and senior defense
leadership, civilian and military.
It is our patriotic duty to speak out when egregiously
flawed policies and strategies needlessly cost
American lives. It is time for the president to ask
those responsible for the flawed Iraqi policy --
civilian and military -- to resign from public
service. Absent such a change in the current
administration, many of us will be forced to choose a
presidential candidate whose domestic policies we may
not like but who understands firsthand the effects of
flawed policies and incompetent military strategies
and who fully comprehends the price.
Support Our Troops, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/053104B.shtml
The Price Of Giving Bad Advice
By William A. Whitlow
The Washington Post
Sunday 30 May 2004
As the war in Iraq drags on, conservative citizens,
mostly Republican, face a growing dilemma in the
November election.
In the face of growing evidence that the president
was deceived and misguided about the cause and urgency
for waging war on Saddam Hussein, it is time for those
responsible to stand forth and accept accountability.
True, the president is ultimately responsible for the
actions of his vice president, his Cabinet and the
executive departments. But it has become clear that
the counsel the president received from the vice
president, secretary of defense, deputy secretary of
defense and senior uniformed leadership was severely
flawed and uncorroborated. Whether the president was
intentionally misled by neoconservatives or whether
their advice was a result of pure incompetence remains
to be seen. The fact is that he was misled
sufficiently to require him to take bold action to
restore his diminished credibility.
The supposedly urgent need to attack Iraq was based
partly on inflated, creative intelligence information,
some of which originated with Ahmed Chalabi, an
associate of the vice president and deputy secretary
of defense. The information from Chalabi led the vice
president and defense secretary to believe that war
with Iraq would be a "cakewalk" and U.S. forces would
be received with open arms. This belief resulted in a
fatal flaw in developing a complete war strategy. A
principal tenet of forming a strategy -- have a "war
termination" phase -- was neglected. Although the
tactical and operational phases of the war were
conducted flawlessly by superior field commanders, the
absence of a complete strategy has needlessly cost
lives.
Our service members are the ultimate victims of this
incomplete strategy, misguided policy and false
intelligence. It is inconceivable and derelict not to
have a viable war termination strategy for an
operation as complex as a major theater war. America's
citizens and our service members deserve far better
for their sacrifices. This combination of things --
misleading the president with false intelligence and
omitting a principal element from our war strategy --
is reason enough to seek change in the vice presidency
and senior defense leadership, civilian and military.
It is our patriotic duty to speak out when
egregiously flawed policies and strategies needlessly
cost American lives. It is time for the president to
ask those responsible for the flawed Iraqi policy --
civilian and military -- to resign from public
service. Absent such a change in the current
administration, many of us will be forced to choose a
presidential candidate whose domestic policies we may
not like but who understands firsthand the effects of
flawed policies and incompetent military strategies
and who fully comprehends the price.
-------
The writer is a retired major general in the Marine
Corps. He served as director of the expeditionary
warfare division in the office of the deputy chief of
naval operations.
Posted by richard at June 1, 2004 09:13 AM