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As with Vietnam, the Iraqi tar pit was oh-so-easy to sink into, but appears to be just as tough to exit. This should be no big surprise! Most slugfests – from bar brawls to military misadventures like Vietnam and Iraq – take some clever moves to step away from once the swinging starts. This is why most combat vets pick their fights carefully. They look at their scars, remember the madness and are always mindful of the fallout. That’s not the case in Washington, where the White House and the Pentagon are run by civilians who have never sweated it...

This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows. To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42644 Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Fry the big fish, too Posted: February 1, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: Eilhys England contributed to this column. By David Hackworth © 2005 David H. Hackworth That sizzling sound you're hearing from U.S. Army posts across the nation is little fish frying. It reminds me of the battlefield, where it's almost always the grunts who get hung out to do the dying. A squad of the enlisted perps who made their bones via the Abu Ghraib abomination are...

Maybe you better sit down and pop a Xanax before reading any further, because what I'm about to tell you should seriously short you out: not only is the average soldier's salary barely life-sustaining, the combat pay of the average grunt in Afghanistan and Iraq is only $7.50 a day or a measly $225 a month. And to make matters worse, the folks bringing up the rear - hundreds of miles from the horror show - are pulling down the same combat pay as our heroes who daily lay their lives on the line. America was far more generous to...

Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in Media (AIM), commented that, "Rather's reference to Abu Ghraib, in the context of preparing the bogus attack on Bush, demonstrates that the agenda of Rather and CBS was not only to sabotage Bush's re-election campaign but to undermine the war in Iraq. They were looking for 'big' stories to hurt the U.S. at home and abroad. The Abu Ghraib story on CBS inflamed the Arab/Muslim world against the U.S., inevitably costing the lives of more American soldiers in Iraq at the hands of fanatical Muslim terrorists." AIM and Romerstein drew attention to another bombshell...

"Rathergate" Scandal Takes New Turn - Same CBS Source That Pronounced Phony Documents as "Genuine" Was Also Behind Abu Ghraib Prison Story on CBS In a bombshell in the CBS "Rathergate" panel report, it is revealed that Dan Rather personally assured CBS News President Andrew Heyward that the discredited Bush National Guard story was not only true but "very big." At the same time, Rather said it wasn't "as big as Abu Ghraib," the Iraqi prisoner abuse story used by CBS and other media to blacken the reputation and image of the United States around the world. What's more, it...

Report just issues, mapes finally fired

Colonel David H. Hackworth was interviewed by Rather as an expert to evaluate the documents that Mapes obtained from Lieutenant Colonel Burkett.... Even though Colonel Hackworth was never in the TexANG, did not know Lieutenant Colonel Killian or any of the other releveant individuals, had no personal knowledge of President Bush's service in the TexANG and had no personal knowledge regarding the Killian documents, he reached some high critical conclusions.... First, Colonel Hackworth concluded that the documents were 'genuine.' ... Second, Colonel Hackworth concluded that, by not taking his physical, then-Lieutenant Bush was 'insubordinate' and would have been treated more...

We’ll soon have 150,000 U.S. troops stuck in the ever-expanding Iraqi quagmire, a number that will probably grow even larger before Iraq holds elections presently scheduled for the end of January ’05. Maintaining such a force is a logistical and personnel nightmare for every grunt in Iraq. And according to several Pentagon number crunchers, it’s also driving the top brass bonkers. Meanwhile the insurgents continue cutting our supply lines and whacking our fighting platoons and supporters, who attrit daily as soldiers and Marines fall to enemy shots, sickness or accidents. Empty platoons lose fights, so these casualties have to be...

Retired Col. David H. Hackworth, still shooting from the sidelines at Soldiers for the Truth, says the recruiting numbers are far worse than anyone is hearing. Hack's talking to the recruiters first-hand and the problem, no surprise, is in all branches of the military -- Regular Army, Reserves and Guard. Recruiting is at half of expectations. They've lowered standards for recruits and have resulted to throwing LAN parties to garner interest from potential recruits. Hack says a draft is imminent, as there is no way to replace the estimated 50,000 KIA, WIA and non-battle casualties from Iraq that have been...

Fallujah predictably fell like a bowling pin, proving once again that an insurgent force can't withstand the awesome air and ground firepower delivered by well-trained, well-led, numerically superior U.S. combat forces. But a lot of damn good grunts were gunned down during their second bloody go at that age-old bastion of resistance. In insurgency warfare, taking real estate - mountain or city - means zilch. Long-term winning is all about getting the people over to our side. As a Marine sergeant wrote last week from Fallujah, " ... for every one killed five more are recruited." Now, the tough part...

Since our commander-in-chief announced “mission accomplished” on May 1, 2003, the insurgents have seized the initiative in Iraq. And we’re also not winning the even-more-consequential worldwide battle against the Islamic jihadists. All because our forces are trying to do too much with too little the wrong way. Lately, I’ve been shoveling through literally truckloads of reader queries along the lines of “OK, Hack, you spent most of the past two years griping, so what’s your solution?” It’s a question that needs an answer. So, as a long-term student of insurgent warfare and a soldier who’s fought guerrillas in post-World-War-II Italy,...

Uncle Sam Will Soon Want Your Kids - By David H. Hackworth, DefenseWatch Senior Military Columnist Recently, when John Kerry brought up the possibility of a return to the draft, SecDef Donald Rumsfeld was quick to respond that Kerry was full of it. But my take is that Kerry is right on the mark. Not only because Rummy has been flat wrong on every major military call regarding Iraq, but because this is a war that won’t be won by smart weapons or the sledgehammer firepower we see every night on the tube. Right now – with both our regular...

Editor's note: Eilhys England contributed to this column. Recently, when John Kerry brought up the possibility of a return to the draft, SecDef Donald Rumsfeld was quick to respond that Kerry was full of it. But my take is that Kerry is right on the mark. Not only because Rummy has been flat wrong on every major military call regarding Iraq, but because this is a war that won't be won by smart weapons or the sledgehammer firepower we see every night on the tube. Right now – with both our regular and Reserve soldiers stretched beyond the breaking point...

Just a question. See as the issue with Kerry and the campaign has progressed (or should I say deteroriated )to the point where supposed government documents have been forged about service in the armed forces, where is the fighter for all things military, Col. Hackworth? Awaiting appointment in a Kerry adminstration?

Fort Sill officials are taking issue with a column that appeared on retired Col. David Hackworth's Web site on Monday. Appearing in the online magazine DefenseWatch under the header "Fort Cheat," the harshly worded column centers its cross hairs on the U.S. Army's Field Artillery School at Fort Sill. Among the assertions made by the author: *"Even though students are required to sign an honor sheet prior to starting the course, at least 11 fledgling lieutenants have been caught cheating or plagiarizing on exams during the past year alone. In nearly every instance, these miscreants have been permitted to graduate...

I doubt if there's one serving general or admiral who as a young officer wasn't ripped off by one of the oldest military scams going: The sting that kicks in whenever a warrior clears post or base quarters and needs to pass inspection quick smart. Even though the brass could stop this decades-old racket still going down at almost every U.S. military installation in less than a drill-sergeant minute, they haven't. The probable reason: CRS (can't remember "squat") syndrome, an institutional disease endemic to the upper ranks. If the brass can't remember the hard lessons of the Vietnam War, with...

- Greetings, After visiting Col. Hackworth's web site I couldn't find anything that would tell me where he stood concerning the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth. Anyone have any ideas?

Proceedings: Next comes the inevitable question. Over the past six years, what fallout have you felt from the suicide of Admiral Boorda? Hackworth: Well, May the 16th will never go away in my mind, for all my life. That the story I was about to write may have caused someone to commit suicide was shattering. And then the flak I took as a result of that was shattering as well. Proceedings: What sort of flak did you take? Hackworth: I took a lot of flak at work. I was gagged. I was not to speak about it. But I refused...

The Vietnam War rages on. Witness the barrages being fired by Viet vets on the right and the left: "George W. Bush is a draft-dodger"; "John F. Kerry isn't a war hero." Once again, that tragic war divides America - and this time around it's vet pitted against vet. Sure, Bush dodged the draft, along with a reported 14 million other Americans with the savvy to work out that Vietnam was a no-win, sorry war. But although he had the luck and the connections to land a spot in the Air Guard, he did put his butt on the line...

The Vietnam War rages on. Witness the barrages being fired by Viet vets on the right and the left: "George W. Bush is a draft-dodger"; "John F. Kerry isn't a war hero." Once again, that tragic war divides America – and this time around, it's vet pitted against vet. Sure, Bush dodged the draft, along with a reported 14 million other Americans with the savvy to work out that Vietnam was a no-win, sorry war. But although he had the luck and the connections to land a spot in the Air Guard, he did put his butt on the line...