Wars 'useful', says US army chief

[Judi Lynn]

Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January, 2004, 12:51 GMT



Wars 'useful', says US army chief


Schoomaker wants to free up more troops for combat
The head of the United States army has said that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have provided a "tremendous focus" for the military.

General Peter Schoomaker said in an interview with AP news agency that the wars had allowed the army to instil its soldiers with a "warrior ethos". (snip)

"There is a huge silver lining in this cloud," he said.

"War is a tremendous focus... Now we have this focusing opportunity, and we have the fact that have actually attacked our homeland, which gives it some oomph."

He said it was no use having an army that did nothing but train.

"There's got to be a certain appetite for what the hell we exist for," he said. (snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3419715.stm


General Schoomaker

[oasis]

1. freepers do your duty, make yourselves useful and enlist now.

[izzie]

2. Yes the "War Lovers"

Maybe that is what is wrong with a hired army?Maybe it is just what a country does not need when we were know for the rights of man?

[9215]

14. Good point

The draft, ironically, could spur resistance to war, or at least open it more to public debate.

But I'm still against the draft. If things get bad, as they will if Bush stays in power, the hired help will go looking for a better job elsewhere.

Not one of our National Representatives have a child in uniform.

[saigon68]

3. Yikes---This is one scary dude

I bet He can't wait to see his troops in APC's patrol the streets of Milwaukee, Grand Rapids or Toledo. He could really kick ass on the sheep then.

He would do the Waffen SS proud with these comments!!!!

[punpirate]

4. Makes perfect sense...

... for a military which is not, essentially, defensive, but is rather offensive in character.

Schoomaker, I believe, is one of Rumsfeld's stooges, hand-picked to continue the administration's view of the military as the PR advance unit for their notions of Pax Americana.

Edit for typo.

[RC]

5. Equip this idiot like one of his troops and set him down in Baghdad.

Don't forget the MRE from Halliburton and order his flack jacket be given to someone else.

[Journeyman]

6. "War speeds things up." . . .

an observation made to comfort his kin, givn by the fictionalized J.P. Morgan in E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime.

[ozymandius]

7. "it was no use having an army that did nothing but train" - he says?

Then perhaps he would agree that it's no use having a gun in your home unless you're going to shoot somebody - eventually.

This guy is a wackjob. The maintenance of a standing army is a reason to engage other nations in wars. What the hell happened to the idea of a pacifist army like Japan's? How do we reconcile the misnomer of the Department of Defense with this psychotic notion of its purpose?

We should return the DoD to its old name: the Department of War.

[T_i_B]

8. This just in...

"crapping in woods convinient" say grizzly bears.

Does anyone honestly expect a general to be a pacifist? :eyes:

[9215]

9. Wesley Clark? nt

[saigon68]

11. Clark not a Pacifist

He's not a WHACK JOB like this guy either

[9215]

16. Point taken

I was trying to fill the gap between pacifist and warmonger--a big one.

[donsu]

12. YES I expect Generals to be pacifists

military is used for defense

what we have done in Iraq is not a war. It is invading and occupying.

is that what is being taught to our Generals? that their job is to invade and occupy?

[T_i_B]

15. I was under the impression...

...that pacifists oppose ALL war, including defensive wars. I guess that is part of the reason why I am not one myself.

Mind you, it's not like you have to be a pacifist to have opposed the war in Iraq.

[leesa]

27. I think your impression is wrong. Most pacifists understand the concept

of defense. As with most rational concepts, the right wing has turned pacifism into an "evil, stupid, silly " notion.

[Sterling]

23. We are not like the Nazi's

So stop saying that. :eyes:

[0007]

29. Two more U.S. troops die today and this guy sez it is great!!

[saigon68]

30. Kick

[9215]

10. It is also having the opposite effect

Really weird coincidence. The topic just above this one reports that the National Guard is facing an exodus due to "demands" placed on wartime troops. :shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=327041

[rman]

13. that's why we need perpetual war: tremendous focus all the time

we wouldn't want the troops to get distracted by trivial things like jobs, family, and the pursuit of happiness.

[9215]

17. Plus it's glorious!

All the fucking medals and shit! WOW!

"God, I love the smell of burnt flesh in the morning".


Throw in a little religious zeal and you have a crusade.

sarcasm/off

[mikehiggins]

19. What sarcasm? Its the truth.

What about General Boytin who thinks he's doing Christ's work killing Arabs?

Another reason to elect someone who knows just who to root out of the pumpkin patch.

[mikehiggins]

18. You gotta wonder why people wonder why these guys

got rid of Clark.

This is the institutional culture of the military top brass and Clark fit in with them about as well as Roseanne Barr fit into a size 4 dress.

[ArkDem]

21. It's amazing that Clark hung in there for 38 years.

.

[neverforget]

20. It's like these wars are just practice for the big one. At least

that's the impression I get from this guy.

[Sterling]

22. Does the military rot your brain?

It seems that way when listening to these officers. What a bunch of asses.

[Minstrel Boy]

24. I'm sure before the Iraq atrocity I read Michael Ledeen

- or someone like Ledeen - say that the US military needed to get "bloodied," to harden the troops.

[leesa]

25. What a pinhead! Let's go murder some innocent people so we stay in

practice.

[peterh]

26. Horrors of war

Be the sacrifice on the field of battle but a single life: some one has died, some one is bereft.

"Only one killed!" the head lines read.
The glad news spreads.
The newsboys cry, "Killed only one!"
"He was my son!
"What were a thousand to this one-
"My only son!"


They who know war best hate it most

Fuck the General…..

[Fleshdancer]

28. Yeah, it's called "Job Security" for this Army Chief. n/t

[tabasco]

31. This is the idiot Rummy had to pull out of retirement.

Because the active duty generals would not fall in line with Rummy's dumbass strategy. They chose to retire rather than serve the evil cabal.

[Judi Lynn]

32. Thanks for that information. It adds a certain tartness, doesn't it? n/t

[0007]

33. Eight deaths in the last 48 hours is useful?

Useful for what? The undertaker?

[TrueStory]

34. If some foreign tropps were getting their "warrior ethos" in US

that could be 'useful' too.

What if all the Generals around the World have the same idea?