Text 43659, 64 rader
Skriven 2006-12-04 13:09:00 av BOB KLAHN (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av ROY WITT
Ärende: JFK and McNamara
========================
 RW>>> http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/secdef_histories/bios/mc
 RW>>> namara.htm

 I hadn't looked at this before. That bio of McNamara shows him
 to be vastly superior to Rumsfeld.

 RW>>> Donald Rumsfeld wasn't even on par with the actions of
 RW>>> McNamara.

 bk>>  No, he was worse. McNamara tried to hold down the number of
 bk>>  troops,

 RW> LOL! To the toon of 2.5M vs 175,000 max in Iraq!

 2.5 million? Where? In Vietnam the peak was under 600K. If you
 mean total over 10 years, the 175K max in Iraq involves repeated
 deployments and extending tours there.

 bk>> and the cost of weapons. He eventually had to admit he
 bk>>  was wrong. Rumsfeld never did.

 RW> Because he wasn't wrong.

 He wasn't? Rumsfeld was told we would need well over 300,000
 troops to take and *HOLD* Iraq. He is the one who set the number
 at 150,000 or less. He was wrong. Even Paul Bremer admitted that
 when he left Iraq.

 And that's just the obvious point.

 Probably most significant was Rumsfeld decision to prevent quick
 elections to put Iraqis in control of Iraq. Instead he went
 along with the plan to "social engineer" the country to
 conservative liking. Both stupid and immoral.

 bk>>  Other than that, there is little difference. Both involved sec of
 bk>> defense who thought you could run a war like a business. Both got too
 bk>> many people killed.

 RW> We've been fighting the Iraqi war for as long as we were
 RW> involved in WW2. Do a comparison of how many casualties in
 RW> both sometime, then do a comparison of Vietnam vs WW2...

 In WW2 we were fighting three countries, with our allies being
 exhausted by war and fighting a desperate defensive action. We
 were facing modern up to date armies, well trained and equiped,
 and determined. We had to penetrate well established and very
 strong defenses, then fight a crawling war across Europe.

 IOW, in three years we toppled three major nations, two of which
 were the dominenant forces in their regions.

 In Iraq we faced a broken and dispirited army of a third world
 country that had no allies and no reserves or resources.

 bk>>>>  ...


BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Remember...sometimes the dragon wins.
 * Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)