You are both wrong. Viet Nam was LOST because of the lack of intestinal
fortitude displayed by our civilian "leaders", not because our military
couldn't do the job. Johnson and McNamara were military geniuses!
Iraq will be the same story. Rummy stated that the US was prepared to handle
2 major conflicts. WRONG.
To begin with, the Generals told the White House Saddam was contained and
did not require our attention at the time, when the White House persisted,
the Generals said we would require 400,000 to 450,000 troops to secure the
borders, maintain civil order, and secure the military sites. BTW; none of
these essential goals were or have been met.
The White House wanted to stay popular so sent something like 1/3 of what
the Generals recommended.
After the initial occupation, Jay Garner, the retired General in charge of
the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) put forth
the idea of converting the old, 400,000 man Iraqi Army to the New Iraqi
Army. We would have been able to do so by paying them on time. These guys
had no loyalties to the old regime. Most were conscripts. The only elements
of the Iraqi Army that would die for Saddam were the Republican Guard. This,
not Al Queda, is the core element of the insurgency.
Instead he was replaced by a Diplidink whose greatest accomplishment was to
write a bunch of "laws" like "drive with both hands on the wheel" and "don't
use your horn unless necessary". Talk about missing the big picture! But, he
gave the White House the answers they wanted and looked good on camera and
so was awarded the Medal of Freedom.
The only way we will be able to stabilize Iraq is to institute a draft and
build the forces up to handle the job; but this would make the war
unpopular- so the White House avoids at the idea.
Our glorious leaders created the problems we are experiencing in Iraq by not
listening to the people paid to advise them. Any corporate CEO or board
would be fired for such a screw up.
Kerry was roasted by some Bush supported ******s on how many Purple Hearts
he actually earned and the Shrub should have been brought up on charges of
dereliction of duty for skipping out on a physical that may have cleared him
to go in harms way.
How many of you boneheads really believe Al Queda is going to show up in
your hometown of Bumphuck, Iowa?
"Keep 'em scared and stupid" is the new Republican motto and it works.
How many of you realize we sent more troops to Granada than to Afghanistan?
Collusion or stupidity?

"NOYB" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Harry.Krause" wrote in message
...
Doug Kanter wrote:
Almost as well as Caesar!

"Butch Davis" wrote in message
ink.net...

Napoleon? Did pretty well for a while, eh?

Butch
"Harry.Krause" wrote in message
...

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On this day in 1862 the French, the one nation that has never had a
major military victory, had their asses handed to them by the Mexican
Army.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/victories.html

Just another contribution to the French schizoid personality of
feeling superior while actually being inferior. :)

Later,

Tom


Au contraire, mon ami.

You forget that the French won the French Revolution.
Of course, they were fighting the French.





Lest we forget, the US did not win the two major fighting wars it was
involved in after WW II.

Hehehe. Gulf Wars I and II don't "count" in Harry's book (I suppose
because we "won" them).

It got out with a "draw" in Korea,

Because we figured it would simply take too long and too much money to
kill 1 billion Chinese.

and was whipped by Vietnam. Our sophisticated weaponry and tall talk
enables us to take on and defeat third and fourth rate military powers.

Actually, we're much better at killing the bad guys than they are at
killing us. If we were in a war for survival (instead of fighting to help
preserve someone elses's freedom halfway around the World), we'd win hands
down.

In our "Quickie fast-food" world, the American public has grown
unaccustomed to waiting for anything. The longer a conflict drags on, the
quicker we lose patience and leave.

You say things like "we got our buts handed to us in Vietnam", yet 1
million Vietcong died compared to our 50,000. If there was any
butt-kicking going on, it was directed against the side that lost 20 times
more men.