Thomas Friedman says Afghanistan is a Bridge Too Far

[taterguy]

Should all military leaders be required to read Cornelius Ryan's book?

What lessons should they glean from it?

What was a more egregious example of fuckwittery: Operation Market Garden or Admiral Halsey chasing the Japanese decoy fleet during the Battle of Leyete Gulf?

[elehhhhna]

1. OMG was messed up.

[cowcommander]

2. Our country can ill afford an Obama victory?

Still too early to tell.

[taterguy]

3. What does that have to do with Ryan's book?

Please explain

[cowcommander]

4. I'm referring to the famous quote about Montgomery declaring OMG a victory

"My country can never again afford the luxury of another Montgomery victory", said by Prince Bernard of the Netherlands after Monty said that the operation was a success, despite the horrendous losses.

[taterguy]

8. Props to you for reading the book

I confess that my knee-jerk reaction to your low post count was to think you were merely a disruptor.

It turns out you were actually being clever, albeit in a way that's as obtuse as some of my posts.

Please accept my sincere and humble apology.

:yourock:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. A bridge too far over a quagmire too deep for bridges with no escape route out.

[YankmeCrankme]

6. Interesting questions

They probably do read it, but get the wrong lessons from it.

Some lessons to be learned is nothing goes as planned, its difficult to separate personal motivations from team objectives, you never have all the information you need to make decisions nor the time to evaluate the information you do have completely.

While chasing the decoy was a poor decision, it can be understood in the context that the troops landing at Leyte were vulnerable and if an enemy fleet was able to get there many transports could have been sunk and thousands of troops killed. So, knowing that the Japanese still had a sizable fleet, albeit without air power, they could have done considerable damage. So, Halsey's decision can be argued, even factoring in any personal glory he was hoping to achieve with the defeat of the Japanese fleet.

While OMG, was much more an example of fuckwittery, to use your term. It was drawn up such that everything had to happen according to plan, there was no margin for error if anything did deviate from what the planners expected to happen. The time table was unrealistic even if nothing went wrong. Which is completely mind numbing considering they just completed D-Day less than a year before. That being the perfect example of things not working out as expected, where drawn up plans went out the window the minute the ships sailed and time tables were obsolete hours after the battle was begun.

[taterguy]

10. Sorry, I don't buy it. I think Halsey was just annoyed Spruance bagged the carriers at Midway

Fog of war, yadda, yadda, yadda.

However, Halsey left the transports to go chasing carriers. He left an opening that powerful Japanese surface ships would have exploited had it not been for the incredibly courageous actions of all those dudes in the tin cans.

Making a run at the Yamato when you're in an escort destroyer?

Brass balls.

Brass balls.

[damntexdem]

7. May prove true.

Won't know until the battle is fought for a while.

[orwell]

9. Friedman's opposition to the strategy...

...should be good news to the President's team. He has been reliably wrong in matters of national security since his wholesome embrace of George's Excellent Iraq Adventure.

Friedman has zero credibility.