Iraq isn't for tourists (Hackworth Praises Dubya)

WorldNetDaily ^ | 12/2/03 |  David H. Hackworth

[Tribune7]

George Bush hit the mark when he visited our troops in Iraq on Turkey Day. He's the Main Man, and his daring and dangerous trip told our warriors he cared and was with them all the way.

Commanders – and especially the commander in chief – inspire soldiers, and it's their duty to beat feet to the front whenever they can. But not senior staff weenie wannabe-warriors back in the rear with all the gear – straphangers who are into cluttering up battlefields such as Iraq mainly for the braggin' rights.

[Nonstatist]

senior staff weenie wannabe-warriors back in the rear with all the gear – straphangers who are into cluttering up battlefields such as Iraq mainly for the braggin' rights.

I never know what this guy is talking about half the time.

[joesnuffy]

Iraq isn't for tourists

Posted: December 2, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 David H. Hackworth

George Bush hit the mark when he visited our troops
in Iraq on Turkey Day. He's the Main Man, and his
daring and dangerous trip told our warriors he cared
and was with them all the way.

Commanders – and especially the commander in chief
– inspire soldiers, and it's their duty to beat feet to
the front whenever they can. But not senior staff
weenie wannabe-warriors back in the rear with all
the gear – straphangers who are into cluttering up
battlefields such as Iraq mainly for the braggin' rights.

Such visits usually balloon into a bloody waste of
commander and staff time, as the folks running the
combat show are ripped away from their primary
purpose of leading their units to lay on fancy
briefings that inevitably involve rehearsals,
pre-inspections and visits to subordinate units. We're
talking literally hundreds if not thousands of soldiers
setting war-fighting aside to jump through irrelevant,
costly, got-to-get-things-shaped-up hoops.

Not to mention the misuse of critical assets needed to
hunt down guerrillas – helicopters and airplanes
assigned to move the VIPs around, as well as the
soldiers and combat gear seconded to secure the
stops along the scenic route.

Staffers in every fighting division in Iraq have
complained to me that there are just too many visiting
firemen sashaying around Iraq these days on
ego-driven trips that accomplish nothing except to put
our troops at additional risk and interfere with their
ability to perform critical combat jobs.

Take, for example, the November visit to Iraq of the
Army's top Pentagon lawyer, Maj. Gen. Thomas J.
Romig, accompanied by three personal staffers.
According to the Pentagon, the purpose of his trip
was "To assess the provision of legal services, look at
integration of RC (Reserve Component) soldiers in
our operations, talk with commanders, look at both
traditional and nontraditional legal issues, gather
lessons learned ... and check on the status of our
soldiers and our equipment."

Sounds cricket. But lawyers can always figure out the
right words to fit almost any agenda. Romig's case
for his trip to a guerrilla battlefield was that he had
"nearly 400 JAG (legal beagles) personnel – officer,
enlisted, warrant officer, both active and reserve
component – in Iraq."

With senior generals in both the Pentagon and Iraq
blessing the mission, the Army's top judge slipped on
his combat gear and flew off to play at war games to
the sounds of real guns.

But on Nov. 7, Romig's combat mission turned into a
nightmare when one of the two Black Hawk
helicopters transporting him and his posse was blown
out of the sky. Romig's assistants Chief Warrant
Officer Sharon T. Swartworth and Sgt. Maj. Cornell
W. Gilmore were killed along with the entire Black
Hawk crew – Capt. Benedict J. Smith, Chief Warrant
Officer Kyran E. Kennnedy and Sgts. Paul M. Neff
and Scott C. Rose.

The deaths of these fine soldiers demand answers to
the following questions:

Was this trip necessary, and who exactly
approved it at the Pentagon and in Iraq?

Why was the helicopter that got shot down
flying in a straight line at an altitude of about
250 feet over an area known to harbor
rocket-toting guerrillas?

Why did Romig require two Black Hawks for
his party of four when one can carry 10
combat-loaded grunts?

When a Pentagon staffer tried to equivocate and told
me it was "to spread the risk," I couldn't help laughing
out loud.

"Spread the risk, my butt," I told him. "And stop
trying to BS me. The second chopper had a warrant
officer and a sergeant on board, not two more
generals."

Then I told him what I'd already heard from my
sources – that "the general required two choppers
because he and his staff had so much baggage."

Well, my bet is Maj. Gen. Romig will be toting the
baggage from this disaster for the rest of his life.
After all, he and the generals who approved his
boondoggle – and who should know better – are
responsible for six soldiers dying.

Iraq isn't a Disneyland Middle East fun destination
for high-ranking tourists looking to play paint ball.

As George Bush reminded us on Thanksgiving by the
extremely cautious way in which he went about his
rightful duty, Iraq is presently one of the most
perilous places in the world.




Col. David H. Hackworth, author of his new best-selling
"Steel My Soldiers' Hearts," "Price of Honor" and "About
Face," has seen duty or reported as a sailor, soldier and
military correspondent in nearly a dozen wars and
conflicts – from the end of World War II to the recent
fights against international terrorism.

[need_a_screen_name]

Please stamp out needless excerpting.

[Destructor]

Well now I've seen it all. "Hack" praising George Bush. Imagine that!

[Allan]

Bump

[Huck]

Even my liberal NY lawyer sister offered that "much as it pain me to say this ;) I got chills watching the soldiers roar and leap to their feet when Dubya walked on the stage in Iraq."

[Gunner Mike]

"senior staff weenie wannabe-warriors back in the rear with all the gear – straphangers who are into cluttering up battlefields such as Iraq mainly for the braggin' rights."

"I never know what this guy is talking about half the time."

Boils down to, "REMFS getting in the way in order to pin on 'Been There' ribbons"

[Hop A Long Cassidy]

In this case, Hack is correct. Iraq is a war zone, not a place to visit. Bush did it right by visiting the troops and then getting out of there. He had the right balance of bravado and caution. My only question...

Why didn't they effect the trade of Hillary for Saddam? She wore the right kind of pants suits. I would have thought she was dressed right.

Hoppy

[bvw]

Good points ... The Commander at the field is good, others best be there for a reason, that reason being the same as why the fighters are there. IOW, if somone has a chance to go there and is not sure why -- don't.

[Chummy]

Commander-in-Chief Bush serving our troops, mixing with them, boosting their morale, this is an heroic act if not on an exact par with the sight of Washington on his white horse in the camps, then certainly very close.

[jmaroneps37]

hack must have had that tumor on his brain removed but; he's still persona non grata on FOX and Hannity's show as he should be.

[RicocheT]

"Why didn't they effect the trade of Hillary for Saddam?"

I think we tried, but the other side wanted more than the existing $25 mil. reward for Saddam if they had to take Shillary.

[nothingnew]

Thanks for posting the WHOLE article joe. I have an old and overtaxed comp with landline ISP.

FMCDH

[joesnuffy]

Pogue warriors...interjecting themselves into combat ops in order to get air medals and CIBs
with the minimum amount of danger to themselves and regardless of the danger they put others in upon whose straps they cling..

[BlueNgold]

Note that the President did not 'go to the front' or insist on helo rides to 'survey the action'. He went to deliver a message to the troops, Period. If these staff hacks want or need to visit fine, there is some room for that, but a JAG has no business outside the HQ. You can't lead from the front unless you're in the warrior business, apologies to all of the fine staff personnel - logistics and admin support are crucial, but facts are facts. The natural caveat is that if you are NOT a shooter you have NO BUSINESS at the front. The old saying goes that there are no athiests in fox holes ... neither are there any non-combatants, or at least there shouldn't be.

[Col Freeper]

I guess I would disagree on just one of your points. Logistics decision makers should be made available at any forward areas, as required, to receive any "constructive criticism" necessary from front-line fighting troops who are not getting what they need, when they need it.

I would caveat my comment by saying that this also means that they should bring the necessary equipment and weapons, and get to the those front areas by the same means an ordinary grunt gets there. Without bringing excess baggage, or requiring someone else to carry it.

[Smoke6]

that's cause he talks like a grunt, not a staff-weenie... ok, he talks like a line doggie not a remf... ok, he talks like he knows his sh-t not like someone who just writes about it. He speaks the language of the participants, not the spectators.

my $0.02

smoke6

[OldCorps]

Hack is on target. The army JAGoff went to Iraq on a boondoogle. Just shows how pervasive these liar types are, even in the army. The man now has some dead soldiers on his conscience. Being the lawyer that he is, he probably doesn't give a damn.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Well now I've seen it all. "Hack" praising George Bush. Imagine that!

It's a Christmas miracle!