I think that I have too little understanding of how the chain of command works; how much power the Executive Branch has to tell the Pentagon how to operate militarily. It's a whole huge ball of wax I've not educated myself about. Yet. Julie Krueger ========Original Message======== Subj:[lit-ideas] Re: Piggy-eyed wonder Date:5/26/2004 2:53:59 PM Central Daylight Time From:johnwager@xxxxxxxxxxx To:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent on: JulieReneB@xxxxxxx wrote: > . . . . The >men I know best (brothers, husband, dad) just flat out don't do hypotheticals. >And they're smart guys. > The Pentagon is usually accused of being TOO concerned with hypotheticals, or in your terms, it's TOO feminine. They have hypothetical solutions to hypothetical problems like nobody else. And they plan for hypothetical unforeseen circumstances to hypothetical problems. There are teams of "players" who role-play adversaries, so that each side can do the unexpected. Some brass get to play Al Qeda operatives, I'm sure. The point is that this Republican president has a Republican staff with almost no real understanding of the workings of the military. Not since the Democrat MacNamara has the Pentagon been as badly led and badly served. The military is trained to follow orders from the civilian leadership, though, no matter how vexing or stupid, so they have gone to war. I would be willing to bet that if you asked almost ANY Pentagon planner, though, they would say that the present leadership botched this operation from the beginning, starting with the kind of military we need ("light and agile" versus thick-skinned), the level of troops required ("light and agile" versus infantry to take and hold ground), etc. etc.etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html