US Army's Report ---- Bush (cheney)ed Up

Ladies and Gentlemen, two years ago the Pioneer Press asked the 22 major party candidates for congress three questions, one of which was: “Did the U.S. do the right thing sending troops to Iraq?” John Kline answered, and I quote:

“Second guessing is for Monday morning quarterbacks and not the way to decide foreign policy. The point is our troops are in Iraq now, so the real question is how do we support our troops and the new Iraqi government?”

Ladies and Gentlemen, that was a bullshit answer then, and it still is.

The military ALWAYS “Monday morning quarterbacks”; it’s called an “After Action Review.” And that’s so mistakes made are mistakes learned so mistakes won’t be made again. John “Semper Never” Kline was counting that he wouldn’t get called on that bullshit answer, and he got lucky.

Now, just because John “Semper Never” Kline was willing to sweep the errors of the Bush misAdministration under the rug, doesn’t mean the Army is. Let’s look at part of the forward from the Army’s “On Point II – Transition to the New Campaign”, which is the After Action report for the 18 month time frame beginning when President Codpiece declared “Mission Accomplished!”:

One of the great, and least understood, qualities of the United States Army is its culture of introspection and self-examination. American Soldiers, whether it is the squad leader conducting a hasty after action review of a training event or the senior leader studying great campaigns from the past, are part of a vibrant, learning organization. The CSI motto—The Past is Prologue—neatly captures the need for this study. Publishing the recent history of the United States Army’s operations is a key part of the TRADOC mission to develop adaptive, innovative leaders who are flexible, culturally astute experts in the art and science of the profession of arms, and who are able to quickly adapt to the contemporary operating environment. Forward: “On Point II”

This misAdministration has completely created a FUBAR, and no one was a bigger cheerleader for Boy Blunder than John “Semper Never” Kline. No one in a position to do more for veterans has done less, than John “Semper Never” Kline.

This report, “On Point II – Transition to the New Campaign”, is a complete repudiation to John “Semper Never” Kline’s bootlicking for the misAdministration.

Here's what this study is about:

Title: On Point II

Book Description:
On Point II is the US Army's first historical study of its campaign in Iraq in the decisive eighteen months following the overthrow of the Baathist regime in April 2003. The book examines both the high-level decisions that shaped military operations after May 2003 as well as the effects of those decisions on units and Soldiers who became responsible for conducting those operations.

The authors, historians at the US Army's Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, based this account on hundreds of interviews with key participants and thousands of primary documents. Critical chapters in this book address the decision to disband the Iraqi Army, detainee operations (including the incidents at the Abu Ghraib prison), reconstruction efforts, and the Army's response to the growing insurgency.

At the core of On Point II is the dramatic story of how after May 2003, the US Army reinvented itself by transforming into an organization capable of conducting a broad array of diverse and complex "Full Spectrum" operations. This was the new campaign that confronted American Soldiers beginning in May 2003 as they strived to create stability in Iraq. (US Army Combined Arms Center)

Ladies and Gentlemen, this After Action Review is the study of how the military transformed from conventional warfare to unconventional warfare and suffered from the forseeable mistakes the misAdministration made.

And the only person from Minnesota that could possibly be more culpable than John “Semper Never” Kline is Norm “Smokescreen” Coleman. Kline could have spoken out, but he chose not to. Coleman, as Chair of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, could have investigated – but he didn’t.

Neither Coleman nor Kline did anything; both have proven they value partisan politics over the welfare of our nation’s active duty military, our Reserves and National Guard, and our veterans.

It is time to hold Kline and Coleman accountable for their failure to hold this misAdministration accountable.