Ghost of BiB

Well, the Mods are getting wore out linking repetitive threads. OK, I'll play: Has more value than what?

Yup. Pretty much what I thought.

I'm still back on page 6 or so trying to figure out the how I'm building a cocoon around Bush, because Franks denied a request for a bunch of Marines, that then got described as Franks falling on his sword in order to deflect blame, which also isn't anywhere near what even Bernsten said. In a more serious vein, right or wrong Commanders and their staffs get multiple things from the field in a constant stream. They have to develop the common operating picture. I don't have anything against Bernsten. But, he also wasn't the only guy involved on the ground. Neither was he in a position to know the full COP from the CENTCOM perspective. People write first person accounts from their perspective. That's why they are called first person accounts. Somewhere down the road responsible historical types gather as much data as they can from as many sources as they can, and history gets written. If they do a decent job, the post mortum usually can point out who did what, when and why, and whether it was a good call or a bad call. Franks was getting multiple requests for available reserves. His 3 shop needed to weigh a vs b vs c and make calls. Committing reserves is a major step.

Get with the program here. Bernsten - 600 Rangers = Bush bad. He said he asked for them and he didn't get them. Scraps read that in Bernsten's book. Game, set, match.

See, here's another example of the double edged thingy. There's a lot of merit to that, and probably truth. But, one can also argue it as being a touch revisionist since no one seemed to have much of a plan for trans border activities (which is actually a lot more of where the AQ/Pushtu connections came in) at the time. So, the call goes out "I want 600 Rangers". CENTCOM comes back "everybody wants 600 Rangers". Also, CENTCOM doesn't own any forces BTW, JFCOM does, bit I digress... End result is a thread like this one that says little more than "Bush Bad".

The one with the bottomless fuel tank?

Nope, they're selling to China. Probably not a lot left over.

I engaged. Afghanistan = Somalia is pretty well apples = cement trucks, to me. And, the CIA was pretty adamant they had the program well in hand. The military accepted their supporting role, and operationally planned accordingly. When half of the middle east decided they were going to come up into Afghanistan through Pakistan to help out their buds, folks started going "oops". Especially the ones who had everything well in hand. Just another angle to the story.

And look how that worked out. Married to Joey Heatherton, and playing watch the weinie with a 10 year old.

I can think of several good captions for the grand prize winner.

I could give a rats ass less. I'm just joining in on the pile on.

Yup, about the 1968 variety.

He had a few pretty good games until he got outcoached by that Wellington fella in the Belgian finals.

Shame. I've always liked the way the cats team up on Joplin.

Napoleon was about 5 foot 2 and had a bad haircut. A true indication of his ability to lead men. But, yeah...he looked sort of shaky at the Waterloo Telethon.

None of it would be at issue if we had all just listened to Richard Clarke. (Sarcasm off)

Daves not here.

Guess you're f**ked. Can I have your piano?

Donate to Jerry's Kids redzone performance fund.

OK, the answer being looked for is this: No, you can't criticize Bush about Afghanistan because he's Bush. All of us stupid neo-con bible thumping dumbshits know this as a truism. You can criticize Clinton because he's Clinton. None of us neo-con bible thumping dumbshits are enlightened nor progressive enough to see anything past that. Feel better now?

Also, BTW, not what I said at all. 2 or 3 different times.

BTW, when did ebola go airborne? Did I just flat miss that one?

Dave's not here.

Sort of like surveillance drones are bad because it's a clear abuse of civil rights until they are bad because they cost too much.

Article Off my vacation list.