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Thread: Six Questions for Doug Macgregor on Iraq and the Surge

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  1. 11-28-2007 #1
    SteveMetz
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gian P Gentile View Post
    Harpers Magazine online posed 6 questions on Iraq and the ongoing Surge to retired army colonel and author Doug Mcgregor. His answers are not of the "matrix" and as usual challenge conventional wisdom. Considering the MG Scales oped on culmination, Macgregor's answers offer up a different conceptualization of the war in Iraq and the way ahead.

    http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001783
    It's nice to see a former student who transcended whatever damage I did to his brain.

    Actually, I think he's pretty much on the mark.
  2. 11-28-2007 #2
    Tom Odom
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
    It's nice to see a former student who transcended whatever damage I did to his brain.

    Actually, I think he's pretty much on the mark.
    Agreed. His first 5 answers are excellent. In response 6, I think he pushes the oil angle too far but that is a question of degree. At the same time he is quite correct in saying the Middle East is a turbulent arena and long term forecasts are SWAGs at best.

    Best

    Tom
  3. 11-28-2007 #3
    SteveMetz
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
    Agreed. His first 5 answers are excellent. In response 6, I think he pushes the oil angle too far but that is a question of degree. At the same time he is quite correct in saying the Middle East is a turbulent arena and long term forecasts are SWAGs at best.

    Best

    Tom
    It's that high quality CGSC education at work. (A few others that I didn't mess up were Russ Honore, Dan Bolger, and Pete Leahy--now Chief of Army in Oz).
  4. 11-28-2007 #4
    Tom Odom
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
    It's that high quality CGSC education at work. (A few others that I didn't mess up were Russ Honore, Dan Bolger, and Pete Leahy--now Chief of Army in Oz).
    hmmmm and I did not make the list....
  5. 11-28-2007 #5
    SteveMetz
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
    hmmmm and I did not make the list....
    Well, no one bats 1.000.
  6. 11-28-2007 #6
    Ken White
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    Default Don't know the other two but unless Russ

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
    It's that high quality CGSC education at work. (A few others that I didn't mess up were Russ Honore, Dan Bolger, and Pete Leahy--now Chief of Army in Oz).
    changed a great deal after he made MAJ, he was virtually unmessable...
  7. 11-28-2007 #7
    SteveMetz
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
    changed a great deal after he made MAJ, he was virtually unmessable...
    True story. He was having a bit of difficulty getting counterinsurgency, so I really had to work with him. Finally it clicked and he gave a pretty good presentation. I was commending him and someone in the back of the room piped up, "You know sir, you just took a perfectly good tanker and dicked him up."
  8. 11-29-2007 #8
    Ken White
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    Default Heh. We worked together at Knox for about

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
    True story. He was having a bit of difficulty getting counterinsurgency, so I really had to work with him. Finally it clicked and he gave a pretty good presentation. I was commending him and someone in the back of the room piped up, "You know sir, you just took a perfectly good tanker and dicked him up."
    a year before I left for another job. He'd wrestle with some concepts but he wouldn't quit 'til he got 'em locked. I kept meaning to run up to Atlanta to see him while he was at First Army; put it off too long.

    He was the Ragin' Cajun a long time before Carville got that tag...
  9. 11-29-2007 #9
    slapout9
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    I dont know if anybody here ever saw it but there was an Air Power book review where MacGregor was called the Army's Colonel Warden. I will have to see if I can find the review but in general the Air Force likes this guy. I have never read any of his books just a few articles but I guess I will have to change that. Has anybody on SWC read his books or have any comments about his transformation ideas?
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