Bing West's Iraq Lessons
During the fierce battle for Fallujah in 2004, an Iraqi colonel pointed at a Marine patrol and said, "Americans are the strongest tribe." In his book The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the...
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While the American military was adapting, American society was disconnecting from them and their values. Lessons from each war affect expectations about the next. The military historian Paul Fussell...
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Decades from now, historians will point out how Petraeus saved Baghdad. More important, they should describe the sturdiness of marines and soldiers trudging along under suffocating heat, ready to...
View ArticleRe: Bing West's Iraq Lessons
1. Partner Always. Don't fight someone else's battles for him. The goal of U.S. units and adviser teams is to nurture armed units -- army and police. If a U.S. unit is not combined with a local unit,...
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I believe the foregoing is a "fair and balanced" (credit to Fox News) evaluation of the events which have transpired in Washington and Iraq since 2003. I take exception, however, to Bing West's (and...
View ArticleRe: Bing West's Iraq Lessons
I take exception, however, to Bing West's (and Flattops's?) argument that every war has its share of mistakes and a loyal citizenry should just accept those mistakes as an inevitable part of waging...
View ArticleRe: Bing West's Iraq Lessons
For myself save the first three years of our own Civil War I cannot cite any of our wars, including Viet Nam, in which such mistakes followed one after the other for such a protracted period of time....
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I am always ready and willing to learn, Flattop; that's why I'm here, Let's see, six months after Pearl Harbor as described in your meticulous account the U.S. Navy won a spectacular victory at Midway...
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Tiger, what is your opinion of Makin Island, vis-a-vis your post #16? Thanks, JP
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Pearl Harbor itself can be seen as a mistake from our point of view and MacArthur is criticized for his initial defense of the Philippines. The understatement of the year -- so far. Pearl Harbor alone...
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the U.S. Navy won a spectacular victory at Midway inflicting irreplaceable losses on the Imperial Japanese Navy and setting the course of the Pacific war. At the end of the movie "Midway", Henry Fonda...
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More from the Pacific: Throughout the war the United States depended on a divided command structure in the Pacific, and it finally bit us in the butt at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After the first day...
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Almost forgot. While the Navy was dealing with the Kamikazes, Admiral Halsey blundered into, not one, but two typhoons in which many ships were damaged or lost.
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JP, A unit of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion raided Makin Island for one night and day in August 1942 in conjunction with and presumably as a diversion from our landings at Tulagi and Guadalcanal in...
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JP's inquiry regarding Makin Island and General Holland M. Smith's disavowal of the Tarawa landing (even though he commanded V Amphibious Corps as well as Task Force 56 of the Iwo Jima assault) raise...
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Addendum to #23 - At the May 1943 Trident Conference, British and American leaders approved a strategic plan for an offensive drive toward Japan through the Central Pacific. Although the plan clearly...
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The origins of the Central Pacific Campaign go all the way back to War Plan Orange. It was reaffirmed in Rainbow 5. In case of war with Japan, the Navy was to mount a campaign through the Japanese...
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Iraq's al-Maliki: US will stay in insecure areas By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer Qassim Abdul-zahra, Associated Press Writer - 24 mins ago BAGHDAD - U.S. troops will not be removed from...
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And before there was a Joint Chiefs of Staff can anyone familiar with the history of World War Two envisage General George Marshall and Admiral Ernest King conducting his position with such...
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Flattop, I was referring to General Richard Meyers who indeed did retire from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Air Force in late 2005. My critical opinion of Meyers is in large part subjective having...
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