"George,

How dare Generals McCaffrey, Wallace, Scowcroft, Clark, etc.criticize "Operation Predicted Cakewalk"? Why it demoralizes our troops.

I think the reaction to the generals, and what the comments about undermining the "coalition" forces battling in Iraq presumes, is the ignorance of the troops and their officers, that they would be unaware of the predicament in which they have found themselves.

Clearly, the hawks predicted a "walkover" war, with troop strength deployment predictions as low as 60,000. Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld and their ilk reassured the troops, with their prewar comments, that this was an easy task, the Iraqis had no will to fight, they would roll over at the first scent of gunpowder, they would be welcomed as "liberators".

Now the above generals who warned of the danger of this false optimism are the bad guys?

If I had to name the most derogatory,demoralizing statement in the run up to this Bush War it would have to be that of the Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's comments about inductees in the Viet Nam War. I quote,"Vietnam era draftees added no value, no advantage really, to the United States Armed Services."

I wonder if Secretary Rumsfeld has ever visited the Viet Nam Memorial Wall?

Harry Tenney (electronic mail, April 2, 2003)

Editor's Note: In September of 2002, the Army's Center of Military History estimated that 100,000 peacekeeping troops would have to be committed to Iraq if the US. were to occupy and reconstruct Iraq on the scale that occurred in Japan and Germany after WWII.

In October 2002, the Pentagon estimated that it would have to mobilize about 265,000 members of the national Guard and Reserves if President Bush ordered an attack against Iraq.