Sandy Berger Headlines
UNICO National Launches Campaign to Designate October as National Italian and Italian-American Heritage Month September 9, 2010, 12:20 am CDT After succeeding last year in having the State of New Jersey recognize October as Italian-American Heritage Month, UNICO National's Anti-Bias Committee has launched a petition-led campaign to designate October as National Italian and ... |
ABCs of media bias September 8, 2010, 5:23 am CDT Talk about media bias. Yes, we all have bias, but the press has a special duty to check facts and report the entire truth. ABC news chastised Glenn Beck for holding the Restoring Honor rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have ... |
This Week's Junkie On TOTN: Whither Lisa, Rahm & The Sept. 14 Primaries September 8, 2010, 4:14 am CDT The Sept. 14 primaries are the focus for this week's Political Junkie segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation. Plus: What will Lisa Murkowski and Rahm Emanuel do? |
Hanks, Brooks share visions for governing North Coast September 6, 2010, 7:37 pm CDT LAKEPORT, Calif. – Two hopeful “citizen legislators” are challenging the region's incumbent state and federal representatives for a shot at putting to work their vision of how to govern the region. |
Trial Venue, Media Coverage Latest Dispute in Fatal Crash September 5, 2010, 2:03 am CDT The latest battle in the case of an Evergreen teenager charged with two counts of deliberate homicide is over the location of her pending trial, a matter that is scheduled to be resolved on Sept. 15. Seventeen-year-old Justine Winter’s ... |
Letters to the editor Sept. 1 September 4, 2010, 2:05 pm CDT Last Thursday, Dennis Johnson wrote how founding father James Madison, the father of our Constitution, would be appalled at our current state of affairs. He faults unions, social programs, the bailouts, and the like, as something that would give ... |
Beck scoffs at 'lie' allegations September 3, 2010, 6:42 am CDT (CNN) -Glenn Beck is scoffing at recent attacks from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and others after the Fox News host inaccurately told the crowd at his recent Washington, DC rally that he "held" George Washington's handwritten inaugural address. "I ... |
TRENDING: Beck scoffs at 'lie' allegations September 3, 2010, 6:42 am CDT Beck is laughing at critics who are making a big deal over his 'lie.' at last weekend's rally. (CNN) -Glenn Beck is scoffing at recent attacks from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and others after the Fox News host inaccurately told the crowd at his ... |
Back Pocket
- The Samuel “Sandy” Berger Scandals
(Feb 03, 2007)
- The Events Leading to the Sandy Berger Scandal
(Jan 30, 2007)
- Twirling the Cognitive Kaleidoscope
(Jan 25, 2006)
- Be Vigilant
(Jan 23, 2006)
- Nuclear Saber Rattling
(Jan 22, 2006)
- John Stossel takes flak over Education Spending
(Jan 18, 2006)
- Kennedy's Children's Book
(Jan 17, 2006)
- Specter Walks the Line
(Jan 15, 2006)
- You say Alito I say Alioto
(Jan 09, 2006)
- 10 Foolish Myths
(Dec 28, 2005)
Past Articles
- Tuesday, December 27
- A Pay Raise for Senator PorkBarrel (0)
- Thursday, December 01
- Iraq Strategy: Executive Summary (13)
- Wednesday, November 09
- The Fair Tax - An Overview (0)
- Monday, September 12
- Take Back the Memorial (37)
- Friday, September 09
- Presidents are not perfect (37)
- Katrina Relief Effort (0)
- Saturday, September 03
- Hillary Clinton: Democrats Are Betting On the Wrong Horse (78)
- Friday, September 02
- Instantly Pinpoint Your Political Identity (38)
- Friday, August 26
- Pat Robertson the Assasinator... (43)
- Thursday, August 25
- You can lead the media to a proud military mom, but you can't make them think. (19)
Older articles
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Posted by: archiveguard on Aug 01, 2005 - 11:39 PM
The most likely explanation for the two generals' differing recollections is
that both of them thought serious preparation for any such operations would
require a long-term redeployment of Special Operations forces to the Middle East
or South Asia. The AC-130s would need bases because the aircraft's unrefueled
range was only a little over 2,000 miles. They needed search-and-rescue backup,
which would have still less range. Thus an AC-130 deployment had to be embedded
in a wider political and military concept involving Pakistan or other
neighboring countries to address issues relating to basing and overflight. No
one ever put such an initiative on the table. Zinni therefore cautioned about
simply ordering up AC-130 deployments for a quick strike; Schoomaker planned for
what he saw as a practical strike option; and the underlying issues were not
fully engaged. The Joint Staff decision paper was never turned into an
interagency policy paper.
The same was true for the option of using ground units from the Special
Operations Command. Within the command, some officers-such as Schoomaker-wanted
the mission of "putting boots on the ground" to get at Bin Ladin and
al Qaeda. At the time, Special Operations was designated as a "supporting
command," not a "supported command": that is, it supported a
theater commander and did not prepare its own plans for dealing with al Qaeda.
Schoomaker proposed to Shelton and Cohen that Special Operations become a
supported command, but the proposal was not adopted. Had it been accepted, he
says, he would have taken on the al Qaeda mission instead of deferring to Zinni.
Lieutenant General William Boykin, the current deputy under secretary of defense
for intelligence and a founding member of Delta Force, told us that
"opportunities were missed because of an unwillingness to take risks and a
lack of vision and understanding."143
President Clinton relied on the advice of General Shelton, who informed him
that without intelligence on Bin Ladin's location, a commando raid's chance of
failure was high. Shelton told President Clinton he would go forward with
"boots on the ground" if the President ordered him to do so; however,
he had to ensure that the President was completely aware of the large logistical
problems inherent in a military operation.144
The Special Operations plans were apparently conceived as another quick
strike option-an option to insert forces after the United States received
actionable intelligence. President Clinton told the Commission that "if we
had had really good intelligence about . . . where [Usama Bin Ladin] was, I
would have done it." Zinni and Schoomaker did make preparations for
possible very high risk in-and-out operations to capture or kill terrorists.
Cohen told the Commission that the notion of putting military personnel on the
ground without some reasonable certitude that Bin Ladin was in a particular
location would have resulted in the mission's failure and the loss of life in a
fruitless effort.145 None of these officials was aware of the
ambitious plan developed months earlier by lower-level Defense officials.
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