As usual, Bing tells you exactly how he feels with a remarkable efficient use of the English language.
Admiral Mullen, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was out of his depth in advising about the Af-Pak war, and the advice on how to handle Libya has not proved prescient.CJCS is a very challenging job, but .... it is hard to argue those two points by Bing West. Very hard. Combine that with his record as CNO ... and ... well ... your opinion is welcome.
If you want to hear more from Bing West, listen to Midrats two week ago where we interviewed him with former SECDEF Rumsfeld.
10 comments:
well stated by Mr. West. Non-emotional, concise, and straightforward.
I hope that Leon the Axe doesn't try to do a Clintonesque reduction of the Military, althought that is precisely why he is being shuffled into that post.
It is not a question if Panetta will cut the military but a question of how much damage can he do. It's BOHICA time!
prepare for under-200 ships navy... mark my words!
I just finished reading Bob Woodward's <span>Obama's Wars</span>, which is also unflattering in its portrayal of the current CJCS. It may be the only time Bing West and Bob Woodward have agreed on anything ;)
You might also point out that all those chairmanships on Capitol Hill come strictly on the basis of party affiliation and senority. As they say, an old yellow dog could get elected to Congress in some places, and if he stays around long enough that son-of-a-whatchmacallit will end up being chairman of the committee.
Bing West is an idiot. He's simply out to sell his books, and he knows that controversy sells. When he was with us in Iraq he kept needling the Colonel about things that weren't his business and our Ops literally had to tell him to STFU. Then he goes off writing a book that says "Colonel so & so was clearly apprehensive". Unfortunatly he's pretty good at telling one side of the story so people believe what he has to say.
I expect real axe, as in 240 ship navy by the end of second Obama term, which is probably inevitable unless someone really charismatic rallies the republicans.
ewok,
We should start a little over/under with this. My guess is 224 with 8 CVNs. We will see Enterprise (65), Nimitz (68), Ike (69) and Vinson (70) go out of service, with the last 3 being disposed of and not mothballed. Replaced by empty ocean and crossed fingers that we won't need them, at least not desperately.
worse still, I expect 10 CVNs kept with fewer and fewer escorts to go around... and LCS completely failing to replace frigates
as RN experienced early in WW2 - in real war there is never enough escorts!
8 CVNs would be begging the Chinese to move out into the WESTPAC, with 2-3 keeping watch over Gulf, 3 in repars/training that leaves just 2 vis-a-vis China - and if one is lost or even put out of action, WESTPAC is theirs for taking...
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