Army criticizes detourof unnecessary war in Iraq/unrealistic antiterrorism

[papau]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8435-2004Jan11.html

Army criticizes detour into an "unnecessary" war in Iraq/"unrealistic" anti-terrorism quest

By Thomas E. Ricks Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 12, 2004; Page A12


A scathing new report published by the Army War College broadly criticizes the Bush administration's handling of the war on terrorism, accusing it of taking a detour into an "unnecessary" war in Iraq and pursuing an "unrealistic" quest against terrorism that may lead to U.S. wars with states that pose no serious threat.

The report, by Jeffrey Record, a visiting professor at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, warns that as a result of those mistakes, the Army is "near the breaking point."

It recommends, among other things, scaling back the scope of the "global war on terrorism" and instead focusing on the narrower threat posed by the al Qaeda terrorist network.

"he global war on terrorism as currently defined and waged is dangerously indiscriminate and ambitious, and accordingly . . . its parameters should be readjusted," Record writes. Currently, he adds, the anti-terrorism campaign "is strategically unfocused, promises more than it can deliver, and threatens to dissipate U.S. military resources in an endless and hopeless search for absolute security." <snip>

But retired Army Col. Douglas C. Lovelace Jr., director of the Strategic Studies Institute, whose Web site carries Record's 56-page monograph, hardly distanced himself from it. "I think that the substance that Jeff brings out in the article really, really needs to be considered," he said. <snip>

He also scoffs at the administration's policy, laid out by Bush in a November speech, of seeking to transform and democratize the Middle East. "The potential policy payoff of a democratic and prosperous Middle East, if there is one, almost certainly lies in the very distant future," he writes. "The basis on which this democratic domino theory rests has never been explicated."

He also casts doubt on whether the U.S. government will maintain its commitment to the war. "The political, fiscal, and military sustainability of the GWOT remains to be seen," he states. <snip>

[papau]

1. How will the 9 use this piece of major ammo?

:-)

[xray s]

2. Aw geez!

Ashcroft just got the orders to drop everything and investigate O'Neill, and now he has to do the entire Army War College!?!

That poor guys gonna' need a long vacation when this is all over!

[papau]

3. smile :-)

:-)

[Leilani]

4. Just goes to show

The military was against the Iraq nightmare..

Vote for Clark & get PNAC criminals out of the Pentagon.

Military is not an Imperial force; they are there to protect our country.

[papau]

5. links to full report and to a prior report that is "consistent"

The report, which can be found HERE": < http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ssi/pubs/2003/bounding/bounding.htm >

"consistent with earlier reports": <http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0109/dailyUpdate.html?s=entt >