Just a heads-up on
David Hackworth's site. He's a retired Colonel who served from the end of WWII to Vietnam, an officer who was actually in combat. He's a tough guy who speaks his mind. You won't like everything you read there but he provides a useful voice that can provide a different slant on the arguments we make with Bush and his allies.
From Memo to the President-Elect:
So, as a long-term student of insurgent warfare and a soldier who's fought guerrillas in post-World-War-II Italy, during the Korean War and for more than four years in Vietnam, here's what I would do:
- Immediately fire SecDef Donald Rumsfeld, all of his Pentagon senior civilian assistants and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers.
- Replace Rumsfeld with retired Gen. Anthony Zinni and give this tough, smart, proven leader a free hand to bring in the best people to reshape and streamline our armed forces for the long counterinsurgency fight ahead.
- Fire National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and replace her with retired Gens. Wes Clark or John Sheehan.
From
Once More a Nation Divided
Sure, Bush dodged the draft, along with a reported 14 million other Americans with the savvy to work out that Vietnam was a no-win, sorry war. But although he had the luck and the connections to land a spot in the Air Guard, he did put his butt on the line flying a machine for which he was entitled to hazardous-duty pay - and that's because zooming around in a jet fighter was and still is highly dangerous.
...
But politics and style aside, Kerry did serve with distinction in Vietnam when he easily could have avoided that killing field. His service to his country shouldn't be diminished by the same despicable, politically motivated tactics visited upon Sens. John McCain in South Carolina and Max Cleland in Georgia, also Viet vets. This kind of gutter-bashing doesn't belong in American politics, and vets shouldn't allow themselves to be used as ammo for cheap shots at one of their own.
Most recently, from Coalition of the Chilling Out?
Overall, the coalition appears to be a costly joke - but American taxpayers, who are stuck with a big chunk of the tab, should be losing their sense of humor by now. And our politicians who are so into crowing about the effectiveness of the coalition should take time out to talk to the guys who know.
Hack's a great voice, the kind that we on the left should feel free on occasion to disagree with but absolutely should listen too. He's a reminder that our soldiers are human but performing an incredibly noble service to their country, and that some officers are great and some come from the same officious mold as over ambitious bureaucratic bosses everywhere.
He also commands the respect of a lot of Bush partisans, perhaps enough to make them rethink their positions.
He also reminds us that competence matters, something this administration has completely ignored in favor of ideology.
Worth a read!