Posted on 04/18/2006 7:06:15 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON (AFP) - A senior British military officer, who worked in Baghdad in 2004, believes US generals try to act like gung-ho movie stars such as John Wayne, a newspaper reported.
Brigadier Alan Sharp made the comments in an academic report on Britain's influence on US foreign relations, The Daily Telegraph said.
The 46-year-old, who worked alongside the US military in Baghdad, said there was a "strong streak of Hollywood" among American officers.
He said an important part to being a success in the US army was the ability to combine the "real and acted heroics" of Audie Murphy, a World War II hero, and the "newsreel antics" of General Douglas MacArthur, famed by the post-war occupation of Japan, and the "movie performances" of Hollywood actors.
This may make good television back home, but Sharp said "loud voices, full body armour, wrap-around sunglasses, air strikes and daily broadcasts from shoulder-holster wearing brigadier generals proudly announcing how many Iraqis have been killed by US forces today" was no "hearts-and-minds winning tool".
Sharp was awarded a British honour and the American Bronze Star for writing the "coalition campaign plan" for Iraq during his Baghdad tour two years ago.
He is now commander of British forces in the Balkans, The Daily Telegraph said.
Sharp wrote his paper during a year-long course with other military personnel from around the world at the Royal College of Defence Studies.
The Daily Telegraph quoted the Ministry of Defence as saying Sharp's comments reflected his personal views.
Any normal, real man looks like John Wayne to a Nancy Boy.
WTF? Did anybody else see the brigadier generals he's talking about? I didn't.
In the Boer War, the Brits instituted the first concentration camps, where they rounded up and starved Boer women and children to death in attempting to break the will of the Boer fighting men.
Now General, shall we move on next to the despicable atrocities your country committed in India?
30,000 feet Wes.
Good Grief, John Holmes, eat your heart out!
Slight edit:
A senior British military officer, believes FRENCH generals try to act like gung-ho movie stars such as John Wayne.
That'll be the day!
when you've got 'em by the ba!!s, their hearts and minds will follow...
Oh, I'm sure that's a true belief/attitude. But it remains to to be seen whether it will serve Britain's long-term interests because our enemies will remain common.
Is that a fact?
>>>>"The air force passed out bronze stars for munitions loader's for the stealth bombers, while they were in Missouri no less"<<<<
That doesn't pass the smell test, care to elaborate?
TT
I'm 100% with you. If they move to a French position whether they treat the US as just like an average foreign country (i.e. neither an ally/friend nor an enemy) they will regret this later on as a grave mistake. The Islamic terrorists aren't just America's enemies - they are also theirs.
I remember reading of it during Bubba Clinton's tenure for the B2 Serbian gambit. The Air Force passing out the bronze stars created quite a stink with combat types.
Excerpted: (see link)
"The issue of Bronze Stars for U.S. troops who took part in the airstrikes on Yugoslavia last year arose after Stars and Stripes recently reviewed 185 Air Force citations and found that only 6 percent went to personnel who actually served in the combat zone. The majority of those awards were given to senior officers who served in such places as Italy, England, Spain and even as far away from the Balkan war zone as Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., from which B-2 bombers were launched for missions over Yugoslavia."
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=5983&archive=true
I remember reading of it during Bubba Clinton's tenure for the B2 Serbian gambit. The Air Force passing out the bronze stars created quite a stink with combat types.
Excerpted: (see link)
"The issue of Bronze Stars for U.S. troops who took part in the airstrikes on Yugoslavia last year arose after Stars and Stripes recently reviewed 185 Air Force citations and found that only 6 percent went to personnel who actually served in the combat zone. The majority of those awards were given to senior officers who served in such places as Italy, England, Spain and even as far away from the Balkan war zone as Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., from which B-2 bombers were launched for missions over Yugoslavia."
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=5983&archive=true
78 posted on 04/19/2006 12:38:49 AM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis
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Isn't that simply the nature of alliances? Since no two nations ever have exactly identical interests, all alliances are inevitably to a greater or lesser extent reluctant.
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