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ONLINE BOOK DISCUSSION WITH THOMAS RICKS, AUTHOR OF "FIASCO"
By Maj P
I tuned in late, having had other sierra to do, and so I couldn't ask a question.
Here is the link to the entire session.
There are some good passages in there, and I think Ricks handled himself well against some angry questioners. I have liked some of his other work, and I believe I might just buy this one. Ricks is no fellow traveler; if he thinks that the war has been mishandled, he's also clear on what he wants the outcome to be: "The short answer is: because I want to win in Iraq. I don't know a lot of officers who think the current posture is sustainable, especially as the chaos continues in Baghdad. But I still think it is possible to win in Iraq, if we get better at recognizing mistakes and adjust better and faster."
Go thee hence and read it all.
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Comments
Yes, it was a very interesting read. Thanks for the link. I particularly liked the comments from current and recently retired officers.
As an "outsider" (former US Army E-5 Buck Sergeant in the 70's), I too have been confounded with "You can't support the Troops and not Support the War" mentality. I thought that before we ever went in, we were getting into something that was gonna be real tough to get out of.
I, sadly, do not see a Win situation in Iraq for the US. I really do not believe we went in with our "eyes open".
As for our senior officers, It seems way to easy for them to say we are winning, from inside the Green Zone.
Put em on Patrol, where real leaders belong.
And send some friggin JAG prosecuters with em. They need to really see the reality outside their little "Haven".
Has our senior Military leadership become a bunch of CYA, career protecting ticket punchers? Again.....
I've only read Ricks' "Making the Corps", but I enjoyed it immensely. From that book, I don't think I'd call the guy a left-wing stooly or anything like that.
I'm probably not going to go buy the book (I start grad school next month) but I am concerned about what he's asserting.
On the one hand, he seems to differ from Yon's dispatches. MY doesn't paint a pretty picture, but I haven't ever thought of terms like FIASCO or QUAGMIRE after reading a dispatch. I also have a friend who's a civvy contractor for KBR near Fallujah (I think), and he's not made me think ot's all f-ed up either.
So the question for me is this: Who to believe? And to what degree? I have the uneasy feeling that Ricks has relied too much on 2nd and 3rd hand info, to the exclusive detriment of 1st hand experience.
Of course, I don't have the illusion that all is well, by any means, but "Fiasco"?? I'm having difficulty accepting that.
Ricks' reporting has continuously been contradicted by people who I feel know much more about the situation than he does. I put little stock in the man's reporting and his decency after the way he smeared Bill Roggio last year.
He smeared Roggio??
I think I totally misjudged the guy then. It might be that his "Corps" book was meant to raise alarms, and not make tools like me get a chubber about the USMC mindset?
"the way he smeared Bill Roggio"???
I don't believe I have ever written a word about Bill Roggio. Please correct that if I am wrong.
Mr. Ricks,
I posted the links to the articles. Not sure why they didn't appear.
http://billroggio.com/archives/2006/03/the_washington_post.php
My fault, it was another Post reporter though I believe you were involved in the story.
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Yours Truely,
Suleman Modi.
PROP. Indo Gulf International
D-174,Kamla Nehru Nagar Oop. Blind school
Jodhpur Raj. India 342009
Email: suleman_1966@yahoo.com
: indo_gulf_int@yahoo.com
off. ph. no. +912912751982
mob. no +919928309443
fax no. +912912719868
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Very interesting discussion.
One point that I definitely agree with is that there has been very little room for loyal dissent in this war - and that effectiveness has suffered from it. There has been too much of a tendency to either support the Administration 100% or oppose it 100%. My own opinion is that the Vietnam-era decade group (a political generation being about 10 years) is so obsessed with that conflict that they are virtually unable to think beyond it.
Also, Ricks makes some good points about the lack of ANY sacking of senior officers. You cannot convince me that these guys have been 100% effective. I've studied too much military history.
On the other hand, the whole Iraq campaign raises a deeper question: Can the United States fight a prolonged war at all?
Historically, the American people are willing to fight ferociously, but have had a nasty tendency to lose interest in and support for a war after about three years. At that point, the public demands either victory in sight or withdrawl.
The implications of this are quite important. It means that future war planning MUST focus on smash-and-leave operations. Punitive raids, not prolonged occupations.
I may crank out a USNI Proceeedings article on this.....