[URL=http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020802-6570074.htm]Rumsfeld toughens terror fight[/URL]
 Yeah, aren't we all!!  

Hey, didn't we train "anti-Soviet units" in Afghanistan in the '80s? What ever happened to them?   [stick]

Where the hell did Donald Rumsfeld come from?  I like this guy.  Gore's cabinet would be full of Colin Powells and Norman Minetas, Bush puts in guys like Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz.  I love it.

Oh, I'm not knocking him. I think he's doing all he can considering he's being hamstrung by the "Powell Doctrine" - [Never fully eliminate the enemy, whether it be al Qaeda, Saddam or Yasser.]

I just wish he'd really start kicking some Colin down there in the planning room.

Rumsfeld rocks!

[img]http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/aircraft/PlaneF14.gif[/img]

Hardcore? He's the one who convinced Bush The Elder to let Saddam off the hook.

There's more to it. If we had gone all the way, it's likely we would of had to do it unilaterally, without the support of the Saudis. That would have put an end to the decade of cheap oil they promised us.

Without "going all the way" (which was more about U.N. security council agreements than the Saudis) we could have still killed A LOT MORE of Iraq's better quality troops (which were in the rear). Powell suggested that we stop as it was turning into a "shooting gallery". (Hell, that's the time you press your advantage.) The result was that Saddam still had enough military resources to put down the subsequent rebellion and remain in power. Big mistake, even not going to Baghdad.

Yeah, the Saudis have been real allies.  If we would have been smart we would have made Iraq the 51st state & had all the oil that we wanted.  Not to mention the fact that Kuwait was liberated by U.S. troops.  Apparently there is plenty of oil there, too.

If you will recall, there was virtually no support in Congress for the Gulf War until after the international coalition was assembled. In order to put that coalition together, we had to promise certain countries that we would only eject Iraq from Kuwait. If we had broken that promise, our credibility would have been greatly diminished.

I like Rumsfeld very much, too, but Powell has a lot to offer as well. Before you jump to judgment about him, consider reading his biography. He's a little left of my views on many issues, but still a good man.

I figure those that are not dead from combat are 40 - 60 years old now. Not much help I'd guess.

Some of the Mujahadeen were 13 and 14 years old.
The youngest one I ever saw a picture of holding an AK was 12 years old. In AirForce Magazine back around 88/9 timeframe.

Ben

The Saudis were with us in Kuwait? Oh that must be why we won so brilliantly, it was all those Saudi soldiers who assisted us!

Nope. By the time of the strike by the Coalition, it was pretty much of a two-man show, the US and Britain.

It was simply up to the US when to call off the attack, and Bush, based upon Powell's urging, stopped the War.

The Saudis couldn't have done a damn thing to get us to stop!

And insofar as an economic weapon against us, Saudi oil is nothing! It represents less than 10% of our imported oil.

Powell screwed the pooch. Saddam could have been history!

And how do we know that Powell was wrong? Cause it's ten friggin years later and we're talking about calling up a new generation of soldiers to go finish the job!

That should have been finished long ago!

Powell is still an idiot, and he was back then too!

Eric The(HonestToGod)Hun[>]:)]