See what a military education gets ya? The singular ability to be absolutely, totally wrong about everything all the time.
Truth is you can't make rank above Colonel without becoming a political animal. Military skills won't carry you into those rarified and refined circles. Only the best brown-nosers get stars.
Well said. There's also a whole horror show of politicians and pundits that don't want to be "humiliated". Apparently people are dying just so they don't have to admit they are wrong.
I think this is the guy.
The way I am reading his comments makes the bold remarks in reference to the Islamists' view of the war. I think his point was that we were not effectively countering that view.
makes the bold remarks in reference to the Islamists' view of the war.
That's very likely true, esp. on the "crusade" and "oil" points, But I don't get it as relates to the humiliation remark.
You could be right, though.
The crusade remark is definitely an Islamist's crusade.
While it may be about viewpoint, remember, this is an American military man saying what HE thinks is their goals. It's his opinion. Plus the word humiliate does come up twice.
I think his point was that we were not effectively countering that view.
An Islamist crusade is poor use of language at best. Perhaps "holy war" might be a better cliche. Oh, that's right. Holy war is an oxymoron.
Jim, I take exception to your comment. So you think that this dialogue is just fine? Are this general and the unknown questioner performing a public service by clarifying the government's position on this grossly misunderstood war? And what would we do to effectively counter that view of the Islamist crusaders? Wage our own crusade? Isn't it enough that we have already kept the terrorists at bay by cleverly warring in their own part of the world so that presumably they will never have the resources to attack the U.S.A? Say what? Wake up! It is about avoiding humiliation, however misguided. It's a lost cause that never was.
I don't think he meant it is an Islamist crusade. I think what he meant was that the Islamists view us as on a crusade, after their oil, and trying to humiliate them. That is what they use to motivate people to fight against us.
Don't get me wrong. I have come to the decision that this is a waste of time and effort on the part of the American army. I would prefer to pull all of our troops out of any overseas bases. This would include all of Europe as well. Keep a strong naval presence to protect our interests in the world. Make it known that any attack against America or our friends/interests will be met with a swift and powerful aerial bombardment of the offending country. No troops would go in to sieze any property or land though. The mission of the Army and National Guard would be to guard our borders. Seal them tight against illegal immigration. Since we do not need to fight a war of conquest overseas (and we never should in the future either), we should reconfigure the Army and its equipment to serve us here at home.
I don't think he meant it is an Islamist crusade. I think what he meant was that the Islamists view us as on a crusade, after their oil, and trying to humiliate them. That is what they use to motivate people to fight against us.
And I think you may be right, Jim. I may have misinterpreted his comments. But again, the original question was, "how can we do a better job of explaining to the American people why we are there?" So while he may have been explaining the "Islamists perspective" (I hate that word "Islamists" BTW), the point was not to counter the view in Iraq but to say, we need similar bold statements here in the U.S.
In wading through one of the transcripts in the Pentagon’s document dump
Research? Of your very own, not just "everybody knows" and "it's all over the news"? Of something besides the Starr Report?
You know, that kind of effort overqualifies you to be a TV insider. Your career will suffer for it 
.
Fat lot of good it did me, ThresherK! Maybe I'll stick to repeating what other bloggers dig up....
Hey, Haloscan scrubbed off my winking emoticon from my previous comment. .
Chris Core:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Core
Chris Core redux:
http://www.chriscoretalks.com/
"And I think you may be right, Jim"
You trying to give me a heart attack SoBe? 
Commenting by HaloScan
