Watched Frontline last night and thought I would ask for some opinions about what was said.
Basically it focused on Rumsfeld, but had alot of background on the pentagon officials, the army, and other cabinet members. Evidently the pentagon military rebuilt the army after vietnam and prepared for the war that was perceived to be on the horizon in Europe (soviet expansion). It was heavy on tanks and artillery. Well we all know the wall came down . So now to the events around 911.
Immediately, consideration was given to invading Iraq. (There was a previous plan to invade Iraq so we would supposedly know what we were doing.) There were those who wanted to go into afghan, and some who favored Iraq. a vote was taken at camp david (Rummy abstained ) and the vote went for afghan. The army saw afghan as another quagmire much like vietnam and remembered the hammering the soviets took there. So Tenet came into the picture and said we could utilize our intelligence connections, and use those connections with a variety of the war lords and clashing factions to wage our battle. Tenet had rather wanted a slow methodical invasion that would take time, but this threatened Rummy's desire to take the army in.(the previous plan) Rummy jumped in and was quite succesful in the use of special forces to come in and hit the strategic targets as the intelligence community located them. There was a problem with interrogating prisoners and Rummy was sort of off the mark in his methods of interrogation (hence Abu Garib?????) but overall the war in afghan was going well.
There were still those who wanted to take the action on into Iraq (Wolfie). The military, the army, was really divided on several issues, especially troop strength, and a plan or lack of it to stabilize the country after our "awe and shock" crusade. Those (Shinseki and White) who said 200,000 or so troops were basically needed ( in questioning before congress )were criticized for the numbers and both Rummy and Wolfie were quoted saying they "didnt know how many troops it would take but well under the 200,000 number". I think their estimates were more like 50,000. Keep in mind that Shinseki was a military man and had many years of experience and Wolfie had not served. Rummy had served as an aviator and flight instructor, but didnt have a lot of experience on the ground so to speak. But Tommy Franks who initially favored the higher number finally caved and went along with Rummy and Wolfie. Colin Powell favored the army side of the question until he caved too. Remember his now infamous pottery shed anology, you break it, you buy it. So we went into Iraq. We initially had great success and marched into Baghdad. Immediately, the underestimate of troop strength became evident in looting and raiding of ammo depos etc. (of which we are debating now) , and the lack of troop strength to maintain control throughout the country. Somewhat vindicating those who claimed the need for higher troop strength. This was not like the war Rummy had rather sucessfully led in Afghan. At the start of the war in Iraq, Rummy held almost daily press conferences and touted how well things were going, but he hit dead bottom with Abu Garib. He quit holding press conferences after that.
Some of the photos showed the contempt that Rummy, Cheney, Powell, and others had for each other, in their struggles for power within the administration.
Well I for one found the program most informative, as it dealt mostly with facts on record and not so much on rhetoric and opinion, except as expressed by those involved. Any comments?
Basically it focused on Rumsfeld, but had alot of background on the pentagon officials, the army, and other cabinet members. Evidently the pentagon military rebuilt the army after vietnam and prepared for the war that was perceived to be on the horizon in Europe (soviet expansion). It was heavy on tanks and artillery. Well we all know the wall came down . So now to the events around 911.
Immediately, consideration was given to invading Iraq. (There was a previous plan to invade Iraq so we would supposedly know what we were doing.) There were those who wanted to go into afghan, and some who favored Iraq. a vote was taken at camp david (Rummy abstained ) and the vote went for afghan. The army saw afghan as another quagmire much like vietnam and remembered the hammering the soviets took there. So Tenet came into the picture and said we could utilize our intelligence connections, and use those connections with a variety of the war lords and clashing factions to wage our battle. Tenet had rather wanted a slow methodical invasion that would take time, but this threatened Rummy's desire to take the army in.(the previous plan) Rummy jumped in and was quite succesful in the use of special forces to come in and hit the strategic targets as the intelligence community located them. There was a problem with interrogating prisoners and Rummy was sort of off the mark in his methods of interrogation (hence Abu Garib?????) but overall the war in afghan was going well.
There were still those who wanted to take the action on into Iraq (Wolfie). The military, the army, was really divided on several issues, especially troop strength, and a plan or lack of it to stabilize the country after our "awe and shock" crusade. Those (Shinseki and White) who said 200,000 or so troops were basically needed ( in questioning before congress )were criticized for the numbers and both Rummy and Wolfie were quoted saying they "didnt know how many troops it would take but well under the 200,000 number". I think their estimates were more like 50,000. Keep in mind that Shinseki was a military man and had many years of experience and Wolfie had not served. Rummy had served as an aviator and flight instructor, but didnt have a lot of experience on the ground so to speak. But Tommy Franks who initially favored the higher number finally caved and went along with Rummy and Wolfie. Colin Powell favored the army side of the question until he caved too. Remember his now infamous pottery shed anology, you break it, you buy it. So we went into Iraq. We initially had great success and marched into Baghdad. Immediately, the underestimate of troop strength became evident in looting and raiding of ammo depos etc. (of which we are debating now) , and the lack of troop strength to maintain control throughout the country. Somewhat vindicating those who claimed the need for higher troop strength. This was not like the war Rummy had rather sucessfully led in Afghan. At the start of the war in Iraq, Rummy held almost daily press conferences and touted how well things were going, but he hit dead bottom with Abu Garib. He quit holding press conferences after that.
Some of the photos showed the contempt that Rummy, Cheney, Powell, and others had for each other, in their struggles for power within the administration.
Well I for one found the program most informative, as it dealt mostly with facts on record and not so much on rhetoric and opinion, except as expressed by those involved. Any comments?
