Posted on 07/18/2004 5:30:33 AM PDT by Max Combined
One of the nation's top generals during the invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) said Thursday that the insurgency took U.S. military leaders by surprise because they believed the assurances of Iraqi opposition groups and defectors that American forces would be welcomed.
Gen. John Keane, who served as the Army's vice chief of staff during the war and who has since retired, told the House Armed Services Committee: "We did not see it coming. And we were not properly prepared and organized to deal with it. . . . Many of us got seduced by the Iraqi exiles in terms of what the outcome would be."
Keane's testimony echoes a recent admission by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who told the House committee last month that the Bush administration mistakenly believed the capture of top Iraqi leaders would quell insurgent violence.
Keane said an insurgency in Iraq after the end of major combat was discussed during months of war planning but was not made a priority.
Although Thursday's hearing was ostensibly held to examine Army plans to adopt new technology and transform its tactics, it became an examination of the trouble the military has encountered in Iraq.
Testifying with Keane were two other retired Army officers, Col. Douglas Macgregor, who left the service last month, and Maj. Gen. Robert Scales.
Scales advocated spending less money on new weapons and technology and more on educating soldiers in cultural, language and strategic skills.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
How long do you take to do this planning for all possible contingencies? You can never finish planning if you have to consider all possible contingencies. How much planning should we have done for the possibility that an asteroid might impact Basra before its capture, during the battle for Basra or after its capture?
You only plan for likely events. How do you determine what events are likely? You make assessments based on the intelligence available. Unfortunately, we had faulty intelligence. It has happened countless times throughout history that military decision were made on faulty intelligence, and it will continue to happen as long as men fight each other.
"I am convinced that the best service a retired general can perform is to turn in his tongue along with his suit and to mothball his opinions."
General Omar Bradley
Who even heard the word "insurgency", let alone expected one, before the press began using and overusing that LAME word a couple of months ago?
*L* Oops, you beat me to it.
No, I believe the looters were a diversion from the Oil for Food evidence that was being guarded by our troops.
Seems the very little that was stolen from the museums, et al came about when we found their stash.
The other looting was furniture and other crap or reallocating of resources.
Welcome to Free Republic. I haven't seen you, or several other new posters on this thread, around here before. I enjoy reading new material from new posters.
A truly great general--so right!
vaudine
The media and the Democrats were comparing Afghanistan to Vietnam before we even went in there.
I no longer view such thoughts or expressions from these sources as anything other then something the Brothers Grimm would write.
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