James Mattis has resigned

[A1Janitor]

We ought to get to the truth about Benghazi and Syria.

Trump campaigned on bringing our troops home. Politicians make promises. Trump is delivering.

I’m not entirely sure all of the experts know why we are really there.

Bush was a warmonger according to the media. Obama was a savior for bringing our troops home. Now Trump is doing the wrong thing?

 

[MemberLG]

. I’m not entirely sure all of the experts know why we are really there.

Experts can articulate why we are there, except with a limited scope. General Shinseki gave his expert advice that we needed about 300,000 troops to invade Iraq. He was probably right, execept he didn’t have to figure out how to get those troops or deal with consequences if we decided to actually use 300,000. So if President Bush’s listen to the expert advice, no Iraq invasion. I could make a good argument that certain decisions lead to needing more troops. Presidents are elected to make their own decisions, not just go with expert advice, as they have to consider everything before making the final decision.

 

[Day-Tripper]

We ought to get to the truth about Benghazi and Syria.

Trump campaigned on bringing our troops home. Politicians make promises. Trump is delivering.

I’m not entirely sure all of the experts know why we are really there.

Bush was a warmonger according to the media. Obama was a savior for bringing our troops home. Now Trump is doing the wrong thing?

. I’m not entirely sure all of the experts know why we are really there.

Experts can articulate why we are there, except with a limited scope. General Shinseki gave his expert advice that we needed about 300,000 troops to invade Iraq. He was probably right, execept he didn’t have to figure out how to get those troops or deal with consequences if we decided to actually use 300,000. So if President Bush’s listen to the expert advice, no Iraq invasion. I could make a good argument that certain decisions lead to needing more troops. Presidents are elected to make their own decisions, not just go with expert advice, as they have to consider everything before making the final decision.

In 2003, just prior to the US invasion of Iraq, General Shinseki was publicly, in front of Congress, mocked by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz - a neoconservative with zero experience in military matters - for his recommendation of a sizeable occupation force. Wolfowitz, an academic, who was woefully misplaced in the Pentagon by President George W Bush. He described Iraqis as a secular people, whom would never become embroiled in a religious Sunni-vs-Shiite sectarian conflict. Never.

Shinseki was forced into retirement.

Two years later, the Iraq War in chaos, Wolfowitz was "promoted" to head of the World Bank, not unlike a certain Robert McNamara in 1968. Wolfowitz later resigned from the World Bank embroiled in another scandal. He's been in political exile ever since.

https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/shinseki-vs-wolfowitz/

https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/history-will-credit-shinseki/

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/12/washington/12shinseki.html

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eric-K-Shinseki