Riddle me this, Robin. If we have "the best forces in the world" and

[Skidmore]

"the best equipped" military in the world but they can't get Iraq under control, how can these damned politicians sit in the hearings and say they have confidence in the ability of the military "to handle any situation"?


"You can't hide your lyin' eyes, and your smile is a thin disguise.
Thought by now you'd realize, that you can't hide your lyin' eyes."

[YDogg]

1. Any politician who doesn't voice public support for the military ...

... will be run out of town on a rail.

Simply put, there is no controlling what has developed in Iraq. We have bush to thank for that, not the military, per se.

[Skidmore]

3. They should be run out of town for voicing support for a

death machine.

[YDogg]

8. I agree.

[htuttle]

2. We have the most expensive military in the world

Of that, there is no doubt.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Swatting flies with a sledgehammer doesn't work

no matter how good the sledgehammer.

[sarge43]

6. Especially if you're stuck on the flypaper. n/t

[bullimiami]

5. maybe they should have ...

[Johonny]

7. Well I for one

have more confidence in the military to handle any situation than I do the Bush white house. The lack of control in Iraq is not the fault of the US military.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

9. There's simply not enough of them

Mind you, I was never in favor of this whole Iraq thing to begin with, but General Shinseki was right: to secure Iraq, the U.S. needed about three times the number of troops Bush was willing to send.

Equipment and training only go so far. You also need numbers.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. The same reason the glorious military got it's ass kicked in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese that wars aren't won by bomb-tonnage and body counts, or even "boots on the ground". The Iraqis, and now, many others have learned the same lesson. The geniuses in the White House and Pentagon have yet to figure it out.

[checkmate1947]

12. you need to get off that

Point of the military got it's ass kicked in 'Nam, you don't know what the fu** your talking about,

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Care to elaborate? Or, was it Jane Fonda that caused the defeat?

Or, did you miss the helicopters lifting off the embassy roof in that final victory parade.

[checkmate1947]

14. that was the final day not the whole campain

Jane Fonda didn't cause it, it was caused by a bunch of micro-managing politicans that had lost the concept of what was going on, on the ground, the Military didn't get its ass kicked, the politicians gave it away.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. So, the geniuses in the Pentagon could've "won" the war?

Let's see.

The U.S. Military and ARVN heavily outnumbered the VC and NVA.
They had vastly superior arms and technology.
They had complete control of the air.
They had far superior supply lines.
They had complete control of the coastlines.
According to their own bodycounts they completely destroyed the VC and NVA forces in South Vietnam...twice.

But, it was the "micromanaging politicians" that lost the war?

Right.

It was the goddam politicians that got us involved in that useless war thinking that our mighty military could easily prevail over the "yellow dwarves with switchblades" (as LBJ referred to them) because the Pentagon told them so.

[checkmate1947]

16. and you next point is?????

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. Same as the first point. The glorious military got it's ass kicked in VN.

Just as it's getting it's ass kicked, again, in Iraq.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Add to that the fact that they still haven't found Osama

and our once vaunted military doesn't look so great under the harsh light of reality.