Do you care about our military and national security?

[Dill]

(06-15-2020, 11:33 AM)hollodero Wrote: As for al qaeda in Iraq, maybe Mr.Mullen deserves no scrutiny, but many used that narrative to directly connect Saddam to 9/11 really.

No. NOT Mullen's narrative. A different one. And this is an important distinction. 

There was no "Al Qaeda in Iraq" in the lead up to the 2003 war, when Cheney et al. were claiming there was. Mullen knew this in 2010 (and probably in 2002).  

There WAS Al Qaeda in Iraq in 2010, when Mullen referred to a network of Al Qaeda affiliated networks in the region. His audience would not be confusing these narratives, or assume Mullen was peddling or extending the already discredited Cheney claims.

(06-15-2020, 11:33 AM)hollodero Wrote: I mainly responded to the point because you did not list Andrew Jackson. I mean, this guy has to count :) - the other four I listed have quite sophisticated military carees though and at least three of them (Harrison, Taylor and Garfield) were considered war heroes.

Sorry. Just don't like Jackson. Messed up the central bank. Trail of tears. Defiance of  Congress. Trump values but real competence and a real warrior. Did have an illustrious military career for sure. Beat the British; beat up on Indians.

Garfield never saw battle, and was a "hero" of logistics if anything. Taylor is the only guy you listed with a "sophisticated" military career, i.e. one with sophisticated training--drill, instruction in tactics, study of military history.

No one gets to be a "general" anymore simply because he was a big wig at the local or state level, so a state governor put him in charge of militia.