[Rhodes22-list] Political - 21st Century 'Ernie Pyle"

[Brad Haslett]

Rob,

I'm out the door and headed for the hangar but one part of your response
caught my attention.

"They are accepting more recruits without high school degrees (30% now) and
recruits accused of and in cases convicted of crimes".

Please give me a credible reference for that statement. That is completely
opposite my recent experience working with armed forces recruiters (with my
son), and the many fellow pilots I work with who are still commanders in
various Marine, Air Force, and Naval reserve units (we are under-represented
by Army) including three Generals (one a two-star).

Brad

On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 10:05 AM, Rob Lowe <rlowe at vt.edu> wrote:

> Quite clearly historians will be writing about the failures of the Bush
> war
> planners to understand the culture and situation in Iraq.  They already
> are.
> A very good book on the subject is "The Occupation of Iraq:  Winning the
> War, Losing the Peace" by Ali A. Allawi, an Iraqi insider who was a
> government minister and writes over and over about the missteps and
> mistakes
> that took place both before and after the invasion.   Another book is
> "The End of Iraq:  How American Incompetence Created a War Without End".
> Many more books and articles along these lines exist.  There are a number
> of
> books (Brad referred to the one by Michael Yon) that describe the
> incredible
> job our soldiers are doing, but soldiers can not win a war without
> political
> leadership, which in missing in this case.  There is still no plan to Win
> the War.  Somehow hoping that the Iraqi political leadership will fix the
> situation and create a stable democracy is not a plan, it's a prayer that
> is
> domed to failure.  The factions in Iraq want power, not a stable,
> powersharing, democracy.  That's our dream, not theirs.
>
> Suggesting I am blowing smoke hardly suffices as a rebuttal of my
> statements.  All of what I said is pretty evident if you read the daily
> newspaper.  Even General Petraeus, in his last testimony to Congress said
> "With this approach, the security achievements of 2007 and early 2008 can
> form a foundation for the gradual establishment of sustainable security in
> Iraq."  That's what we are reducing to fighting for now?  The gradual
> establishment of sustainable security?  That doesn't sound like winning
> the
> war to me.
>
> The military may not see their task as impossible, but what is their task?
> Bush keeps talking about "the Mission", but has yet to define what it is
> because he doesn't know what it is. The military is worried about the
> viability of their forces though.  They are accepting more recruits
> without
> high school degrees (30% now) and recruits accused of and in cases
> convicted
> of crimes.  Sergeants and captains are leaving the Army in record numbers
> even though the re-enlistment bonus has been increased a number of times.
> Army generals admit they can't put more troops in Afghanistan or anywhere
> else for that matter because they just don't have them.  I've actually
> wondered if North Korea is going to still up some trouble knowing that the
> military would have a difficult time responding.  We do have air power and
> all, but would be hard pressed to but enough boots on the ground to
> respond.
> No, Bush has done a great job of mucking things up and is passing the buck
> to the next president, because he can't fix the damage that he has done.
>  -
> rob
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Herb Parsons" <hparsons at parsonsys.com>
> To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:03 PM
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Political - 21st Century 'Ernie Pyle"
>
>
> > Really Rob? Historians are going to be writing that? And what do you
> > base that assessment on? Do you actually know such an historian, or is
> > it just assmption on your part.
> >
> > Personally, I think your blowing smoke. Virtually all of what you said
> > is just junk, with nothing to back it up.
> >
> > The military doesn't view their task as "impossible", why do you? (If
> > you'd like, I'll be more than happy to give you quotes from them)
> >
>
>
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