Wednesday, October 27, 2004
PLEA FOR MISSING INFORMATION
After savoring the RedSox win for a few minutes, I made the mistake of grabbing the remote and surfing around a bit which led me to watch a few snippets of the latest cable news shows. I'm too tired (and too lazy) to look up links for these stories and may get some of the particulars wrong, but I think I am on fairly solid ground in summarizing the following:
--the Bush Administration has announced that it will ask for $75 billion more for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
--Iraqi interim government leader Iyad Allawi has criticized coalition troops for not providing enough security which resulted in, among other things, the massacre of dozens of Iraqi police trainees a few days ago.
--300 tons of high explosives may have gone missing from an Iraqi arsenal.
--John Kerry has used all three of these things to criticize the Bush Administration's incompetence in handling the war.
Now, my question and plea for further information and enlightenment is this: When did Kerry announce that, if elected, he plans to fire all the top DOD brass as well as all the top battlefield commanders in the military at least down to the divisional level (e.g. commanders of the 101st Airborne and the 3ID)? Has such a thorough housecleaning of the military command ever been done before? Barring such a move, exactly how does Kerry intend to improve the competence of battlefield decisions? Does he plan to micro-manage every battlefield decision like LBJ in Vietnam? And, finally, about the $75 billion: Is Kerry going to support this budget measure? If so, what, exactly is he griping about? If not, what is his strategy for Iraq?
I clearly have a certain view concerning the answers to such questions. But I would genuinely like to know what someone else who perhaps isn't as biased (and tired) as I am thinks about all this.
--the Bush Administration has announced that it will ask for $75 billion more for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
--Iraqi interim government leader Iyad Allawi has criticized coalition troops for not providing enough security which resulted in, among other things, the massacre of dozens of Iraqi police trainees a few days ago.
--300 tons of high explosives may have gone missing from an Iraqi arsenal.
--John Kerry has used all three of these things to criticize the Bush Administration's incompetence in handling the war.
Now, my question and plea for further information and enlightenment is this: When did Kerry announce that, if elected, he plans to fire all the top DOD brass as well as all the top battlefield commanders in the military at least down to the divisional level (e.g. commanders of the 101st Airborne and the 3ID)? Has such a thorough housecleaning of the military command ever been done before? Barring such a move, exactly how does Kerry intend to improve the competence of battlefield decisions? Does he plan to micro-manage every battlefield decision like LBJ in Vietnam? And, finally, about the $75 billion: Is Kerry going to support this budget measure? If so, what, exactly is he griping about? If not, what is his strategy for Iraq?
I clearly have a certain view concerning the answers to such questions. But I would genuinely like to know what someone else who perhaps isn't as biased (and tired) as I am thinks about all this.
