 |
|
Searching? | |
 To find the subject matter you are looking for, click on the appropriate page above under "New Features" ; look to the left. Or, look on this page- make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to find your subject.
 On the left of each page, you will find a list of archived articles where you should find the subject you are searching for.
If you can not find it, hit the last link on page until you do or e-mail us. We will try to do all we can to help. |
GoogledWebzineArticles:
 Click on the site above for a list of all, if not most, airbornepress.com webzine articles uploaded to the web.
Don't forget to click all the page numbers listed at the very bottom.
| |
The Generals and Rumsfeld
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John R.S. Batiste
Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Thomas X. Hammes
Kelly Thomas
September 27, 2006
|
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
|
At a Democratic hearing on Monday, General Eaton said Rumsfeld "continues to fight this war on the cheap" and said he was incompetent. General Batiste said Rumsfeld had "like-minded and compliant subordinates" around him. Colonel Hamm said transferring troops from one regional hot spot to another in Iraq was like playing a fair game "whac a mole."
Neither of the three generals said we should leave Iraq now because leaving could create civil war (worse than now), instability in the region, trouble in the oil markets, etc.(see Plan for Iraq below)
I take the side of the generals especially their comments on how the war has been mismanaged, even though there's comment all around on how their speaking out at a Democratic hearing smacks of politics. Well, it is politics. However, I have followed retired General Eaton and think that he retired out of frustration and was not playing politics.
I listened to much of the hearing. What struck me was that all potential three and four star generals have to be interviewed by Rumsfeld. Now, it doesn't take a Princeton scholar to know that only those parroting Rumsfeld's philosophy are going to be selected for promotion. According to Eaton, there's some bill that is suppose to preclude this: I don't know what it is, but I doubt that any congressional edict is going to deter Rumsfeld, nothing else has. The guy must have testicles of steel.
Let's face it, Rumsfeld is not going anywhere. The President is not going to get rid of Rumsfeld as it might interfere with the parallel universe where most of the current administration resides.
As an aside, anyone who listened to Condi Rice on 60 Minutes the other night has to realize, that, without a doubt, she and others of the same philosophy simply don't exist where we do. I actually like her and think she is gutsy, but the most sanguine human being on the planet cannot conclude we are winning in Iraq. It is about as preposterous as Rumsfeld resigning, being fired, or just hitting the road.
| |
A Possible Plan For Iraq
Kelly Thomas
September 26, 2006
|
(AP Photo/Mahmoud Al-badri)
|
Just yesterday, on NPR, I listened to a report about how leaks within the Iraqi government and the Iraqi military were interfering with joint US and Iraqi military raids on suspected insurgent hideouts. In other words, the bad guys were informed and took off before the raids happened.
What can be done? As I have said over and over, it's a mess.
Last week(see article below), I was discussing with a few of my buds Michael, Ray, Gary, and Jerry(“my girlfriends” as my wife calls them) about how we have no plan for Iraq.
My buds and I are a bunch of old guys who sit round four or five times a week at breakfast and shoot the breeze about many subjects: politics, world affairs, elections, and the fairer sex. Occasionally, we are reminded that we are not an encounter group, but a bunch of guys "BSing" about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
After we decided there was no plan for Iraq, the next day, we decided to come up with one to get out of "the mess". Let's forget issues of how we got there, the stupidity of it, and how we have stubbornly mismanaged the war on every turn. We are there, so we need to think about what we can do:
OK, here are my and some of the " girlfriends' " (Michael, Ray, Gary, Jerry) suggestions:
1) Divide the country into three regions--Shiite, Sunni, Kurd wth a loosely defined central government.
2) Make sure that the three ethnic groups equally share in the country's riches, i.e., oil. Each region will have its own standards of rules and police itself-Maybe this can be done within the existing constitution.
Three things need to be accomplished:
i. The goal is to stop the sectarian violence.
ii. Improve the standard of living of all the people.
iii. Be a stabilizing influence in the Middle East.
3) The American military forces will be beefed up to around 200,000 with the front line troops being mostly Special Forces and Special operations troops, dressed in non-military gear, attempting to keep the peace and assisting in controlling violence where it might exist. The supplemental troops are only there for backup in case the sectarian violence spills over.
4)This is a two year plan. At the end of two years, American forces will leave other than a small contingency of military for whatever assistance may be required.
Will this work? Who knows? Well, it is better than any plan I've seen thus far. Special thanks to Michael, Ray, Gary, and Jerry
| |
What's The Plan?
Kelly Thomas
September 22, 2006
|
(AP Photo/Mahmoud Al-badri)
|
A few days ago, I had breakfast with a couple of buddies. Both were well versed and well read in world events. And, on Iraq, it is always, "What can we do?"
I admire and respect these guys and led with the question; What's the plan? One of them gave me the same old tired stuff about Iraq: training the Army and police till they take over, establish democracy and so on. Not much comfort.
It is a "known secret" that most of the police are Shiites and are mostly tied to the militias. In a sense, it's almost simple: Under Saddam the Sunnis were in power; Saddam reeked havoc and death against the Shiites and the Kurds. Now, the Shiites are in power. It is payback time. Two thousand years of violence and we're caught in the middle of it.
Everyday, scores of killings occur in Baghdad. American forces are "whacking a mole" (rushing to wherever trouble is to stem it, which they haven't and can't). Soldiers are to a person, simply doing their job- what they're told and trying to stay alive. And, this is our plan?
| |
| Airborne Press Weekend Webzine Musings
These are just a few inspirational thoughts (we hope) put together for those of us who couldn't get to the mosque, synagogue, or church of our choice this weekend. If you don't gain any inspiration, maybe you'll enjoy reading something a little different.
Airborne Press Webzine Musings
The link above requires adobe acrobat reader. If you don't already have it, you can download at Adobe.com. If you have adobe reader, click first on the link above. It should open; but, if not, then open adobe reader and then click on the link above.
| | |
|
|
American Casualty Report in Iraq
Thanks to Keyvan Minoukadeh
|
Commentary