Anglo-US friction over ops in Iraq

[Tom Odom]

I should offer a disclaimer first, I am a UK apologist. I spent time at CENTCOM following 9/11... My association with UK officers/NCOs through GO was nothing but rewarding, and I defend UK at almost every opportunity...

However... I find very few things more distasteful than a senior officer going on the speech/book trail to "set the record straight". The US is certainly not immune to such behavior, in fact we seem to be a world leader in that as well...

I just don't think this an intellectually honest assessment of UK performance in the South/Basra, but then again the US has had its share of "odd interpreatation" of combat operations in Iraq itself (I can think of a briefing regarding the performance of rotary wing a/c in OIF I that was a particular affront to anyone's sense of reality).

I just wish these senior officers would stand up offer praise to Soldiers when and where warranted, and accept responsibility for the rest. Way back in the day as I was being mentored I was taught that an officer accepts responsibility for all under his command and passes accolades to his subordinates/Soldiers (e.g. 2LT your platoon really kicked @ss in that STX lane - sir I'll inform the men)

Soldiers deserve better...

Live well and row

Agreed with one caveat: as I read the piece I found the Brit general's comments to be rather balanced and well said. The issues I have with the article are the author's insistence on hyping those comments into something larger. For that I would say this is another case of British media looking for a cause. That is not say that US media is any less guilty of exactly the same thing. Sells newspapers I guess