← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Zoroaster
Thread ID: 8757 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2003-08-04
2003-08-04 16:38 | User Profile
Guerrilla of the Week Editor's Week, August 3, 2003 During the Vietnam War, you had to read hippie publications like Ramparts to find out what it was really like for American soldiers fighting and dying in Southeast Asia.
Today, a growing number of soldiers are speaking out about another doomed military adventure via emails that are finding their way to the web. Check out "Soldiers for Truth," a revolutionary site allowing U.S. soldiers in Iraq to directly communicate their plight to the world. Don't get the wrong idea. This ain't no peacenik site. It's fervently pro-military, and fundamentally pro-war. But it is increasingly anti-administration. The site's spiritual leader seems to be retired U.S. Army Col. David Hackworth, the self-described Most Decorated Soldier in America. Hackworth can walk the walk. He was shot 8 times in Vietnam, and went on to write the so-called "Vietnam Primer," referred to as the military's bible on counter-insurgency warfare.
As a profile in today's Salon describes, Hackworth has become one of the administration's most vocal critics. The Colonel is best known for being one of the loudest detractors of the Pentagon's invasion strategy in the early stages of the war. His main gripe - Rumsfeld did it "light" and "on the cheap," leaving U.S. forces without the manpower to properly secure the peace. During the invasion, his (and others') comments drew the ire of the neo-con junta, prompting Rummy to lash out at the media and what he called the "television generals" - Hackworth being one. But Hackworth didn't back down. He set up his own site, hackworth.com, where you can read his scathing critiques of the war planners.
In an interview with Salon (excepted below), Hackworth hits back, explaining why he thinks the Secretary of Defense is an "asshole," why the war is far from over, and why Saddam Hussein could be the next Ho Chi Minh.
Salon: How long do you think U.S. troops will be needed in Iraq?
Hackworth: God only knows, the way things are going. At least 30 years. Tommy Franks [recently retired commander of U.S. troops in Iraq] said four to 10 years. Based on Cyprus and other commitments in this kind of warfare, it is going to be a long time -- unless the price gets too heavy.
We say it is costing the U.S. $4 billion a month; I bet it is costing $6 billion a month. Where the hell is that money going to come from?
Salon: How do you see the combat situation evolving in Iraq?
Hackworth:There is no way the G [guerrilla] is going to win; he knows that, but his object is to make us bleed. To nickel and dime us. This is Phase 1. But what he is always looking for is the big hit -- a Beirut [-style car-bomb attack] with 242 casualties, something that gets the headlines! The Americans have their head up their ass all the time. All the advantages are with the G; he will be watching. He is like an audience in a darkened theater and the U.S. troops are the actors on stage all lit up, so the G can see everything on stage, when they are asleep or when his weapons are dirty. The actor can't see sh*t in the audience.
Salon: For many weeks your Web site has described conditions in Iraq as being far more chaotic and unstable than generally reported. Why did the Pentagon try to downplay the problems instead of playing it straight and saying this is a long- term problem for America?
Hackworth: Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz made a very horrible estimate of the situation. They concluded that the war would be Slam Bam Goodbye Saddam, followed by victory parades with local Iraqi folks throwing flowers and rice and everything nice, then the troops would come home.
When I examined the task organization, my estimate was totally contrary to this asshole Rumsfeld, who went in light and on the cheap, all based upon this rosy scenario. I never thought this would be a fight without resistance. And there was another guy who thought the same way I did; his name is Saddam Hussein. He looked at the awesome array of forces being set up against him and said, "Wait a minute, no way can I prevail, I tried that in '91 and just saw in Afghanistan what happened to Taliban and Al-Qaida, I will run away for another day."
Saddam is saying, "I am going to copy Ho Chi Minh and the Taliban and go into a guerrilla configuration." It [the invasion of Baghdad] did go Slam Bam Goodbye Saddam, but we are in there so light that we don't have sufficient force to provide the stability after the fall of the regime. We can't secure the banks, the energy facilities, the vital installations, the government, the ministry, the museums or the library. The world was witness to this great anarchy, the looting and rioting that set over Baghdad. There was that wonderful quote by Rumsfeld. "Stuff happens," he said. He flipped it off.
Salon: Do you see any similarities to the U.S. engagement in Vietnam?
Hackworth: The mistake in Vietnam was we failed to understand the nature of the war and we failed to understand our enemy. In Vietnam we were fighting World War II. Up to now in Iraq we have been fighting Desert Storm with tank brigade attacks. The tanks move into a village, swoop down, the tank gunner sees a silhouette atop a house, aims, fires, kills and it turns out to be a 12-year-old boy. Now, the father of that boy said, "We will kill 10 Americans for this." This is exactly what happened in Vietnam; a village was friendly, then some pilot turns around and blows away the village, the village goes from pro-Saigon to pro-Hanoi.
[...]
Read the rest of the interview here [ad viewing required].
[url=http://www.guerrillanews.com/human_rights/doc2579.html]http://www.guerrillanews.com/human_rights/doc2579.html[/url]
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2003-08-04 17:07 | User Profile
I find this funny considering the fact that he himself wrote an editorial just weeks before the war saying about how much America's technologial edge would destroy everything Saddam has.
I don't know, I used to like David Hackworth, but lately he's just been a mouthpiece for the Bush administration. Only now with the Iraq war not going well(which he constantly advocated for) is Davie attacking Bush.
2003-08-04 17:08 | User Profile
Good to see Hackworth call Rumsfeld the asshole he certainly is. I bet he'd just love to smash that insufferable I'm-so-much-smarter-than-you-are smirk off his mug.
2003-08-04 18:04 | User Profile
Granted, at times Hackworth is fuzzy on his positions, but he must be applauded for calling the Rummy creep an "asshole."
-Z-
2003-08-04 18:19 | User Profile
I'm too cheap/lazy to sign up - did anyone get the rest of the interview?
2003-08-05 01:01 | User Profile
I don't know about Hackworth, but I don't like the commerical crap. I deleted the source from my bookmarks.
-Z-