re: General Wesley Clark: The US will attack 7 countries in 5 years

You do admit that Saddam and Runsfeld met. A single photoshopped picture doesn't change that.

The Reagan Administration cultivated Iraq.

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oh man, we lost 5k patriots over 15 years in an all volunteer force. the horror!

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frick you.

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Personally I am completely unimpressed with him as an officer.

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I think we need to cut him a break because if I remember correctly, he told us that he retired in the year 1993. That's a very long time ago and it's been that long since he's been an Officer on active service. So, he's had lots of time to drift away from the fold. I do assume that he was a fine Marine and a fine Officer in his day, which ended within months after Bill Clinton was newly Inaugurated -- long time ago.

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Who won the war in Iraq?

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Better question is: Who lost the war in Iraq? Answer is almost everyone involved, except Iran as you suggest.

However, this is an outgrowth of exactly the sort of war advanced by Clinton and Clark. Splashy strikes on an outmatched military (and before you even go there, yes, that's exactly what W and Obama would do in subsequent years), then send in the "troops" with a New Deal on steroids for whatever country just received the brunt of some strikes. Like some perverse weaponisation of The Marshall Plan.

While it isn't completely new (no secret a lot of these "warriors" came of age during Vietnam), certainly as a substitute for warfighting it has just been the most perplexing thing I've had to deal with in my military career.

I joined an Army that was gearing up to defeat the Soviet Union or a proxy. By the time I made Captain, it seemed like building roads, providing power, healthcare clinics and schooling were substitutes for killing the enemy until he said, "Hey, hey, HEY? Whoa. Can we talk? We want to stop doing what's making you so angry at us."

You know? Victory.

Have the integrity to own the fact that you used a photoshopped picture as the central part of your argument. When called on it just say "my bad" and move on. It is a well established fact that Rumsfeld (a person I especially despise) was a special envoy. You do not need to further embellish your point with fake information.

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WhiskeyPapa

Thank You sir

This is what I have been trying to warn this board about. I love our soldiers and I honor their sacrifices, but this war basically became a conflict with no real results.

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Thanks.


For a healthy nation war is a convulsion to be gotten through so the nation can continue to progress in just power, social values, morals and justice. One of the things that is not obvious about World War Two unless you really study it is that the force that General Marshall planned out only came roaring into existence at the start of 1944. In mid-1943 the 8th AF only had about 250 bombers ready for day to day ops. By 1/1/44 it was 900. Soon it was 1,500 and then 2,000. Out is the Pacific it went from a task force you could see all of at once to an armada it took an hour to fly across. Sixty infantry divisions were ready to grapple with the Axis powers by June of 1944. Ninety infantry divisions, sixteen armored divisions, five airborne divisions and six Marine divisions were ultimately fielded.









This gigantic force fell upon the Axis Powers and crushed out their lives in a year. And that is what our Military officers worked towards.




But now, the norm is -perpetual war-. All the generals know it. The Admirals know it. That is what the powers that be want. It isn’t likely that we can ever get our country back from the really evil people who pretend to represent us.

Continue to demonstrate a lack of integrity. You obviously have no issue with being deceptive in word or deed to achieve an end. Something I will not tolerate from any officer.

I am done arguing with you.

I do not intend to enable him. I will call him out when he makes a statement that I think is foolish. I don't want to enable him or be enemies with him. I do have respect for that veteran.

WP (Walt) -- sometimes you post foolish statements. Not always, though.

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The guy posted literal - not as in fake news LOL but actual - Russian economic propaganda the other day and tried to play it off as legitimate.

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Here is the original link, which was in the thread you cite.


How to Adapt Military Risk to an Era of Hypercompetition

https://www.defenseone.com

"The United States and its defense establishment are stumbling through a period of hypercompetition. The current era is defined by furious battles for positional advantage at multiple extra-national, transnational, national, and sub-national levels. And, it occurs across physical, political, economic, virtual, and cognitive domains. The U.S. failure to cope appears to be the product of hubris, an unsophisticated appreciation for contemporary strategic-level hazards, stock-in-trade 20th-century strategy development processes — and a failure to grasp the nature of 21st-century risk...

As well, contemporary U.S. defense and military decision-making is taking place amid an erosion of U.S. military advantage and a restructuring of international security in ways that are inhospitable and often hostile to U.S. leadership. American strategy and risk conventions are patently ill-prepared for both circumstances. We suggest this has led us to a period of “post-U.S. primacy.”

Why would you try and mislead people?