At http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11227-2004May8.html
there is an interesting article that contains the following section: <quote> Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who spent much of the year in western Iraq, said he believes that at the tactical level at which fighting occurs, the U.S. military is still winning. But when asked whether he believes the United States is losing, he said, "I think strategically, we are." Army Col. Paul Hughes, who last year was the first director of strategic planning for the U.S. occupation authority in Baghdad, said he agrees with that view and noted that a pattern of winning battles while losing a war characterized the U.S. failure in Vietnam. "Unless we ensure that we have coherency in our policy, we will lose strategically," he said in an interview Friday. "I lost my brother in Vietnam," added Hughes, a veteran Army strategist who is involved in formulating Iraq policy. "I promised myself, when I came on active duty, that I would do everything in my power to prevent that [sort of strategic loss] from happening again. Here I am, 30 years later, thinking we will win every fight and lose the war, because we don't understand the war we're in." <end quote> There are a few things worth noting here. First of all, these are not small fry, a two star general and the first director of strategic planning. Second, in the present environment, these men must realize that they are risking their careers to speak out. Rumsfeld does not tolerate public dissention in the ranks. These are the first Iraq/Viet Nam comparisons that I've seen from senior military figures. There are a couple of conclusions that can be drawn from this. 1) There is still a strong feeling of professionalism in the armed forces. They are resistant to group think. 2) Things are much more serious than the Bush administration admits. Dan M.
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