Muhammed Ali

[Plane]

   One of the most famous and most respected Americans ever.

    Was a prizefighter, who chose a minority religion, objected publicly to government action, spent time in prison for refusing the draft .
     And teased all his rivals poetically.

      There will never be many who succeed so well , and earn such worldwide respect.

       Though he is nearly my opposite in every choice he made , I too am glad he was an American.

[Christians4LessGvt]

As a kid I was a huge boxing fan and he was my favorite boxer of all time. He had a profound impact on my life. That may seem odd being that he converted to Islam, refused to go to Viet Nam, etc... but his impact on me was his ability to prove doubters wrong, to confidently go against the grain, and his tongue in cheek irreverent sense of humor and brashness. When his boxing career ended and Parkinson's disease "stole" his bright light I missed "him" more than I missed his boxing skills. Thanks for shocking the world in so many ways throughout your life. Rest in Peace Champ Forever.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Ali knew that He was serving no purpose going to Vietnam.

Eventually, there were so many young Americans simply refusing to go that it was clear that they could never  do a repeat of Korea, with troops remaining forever in South Vietnam. And the Hawks of both parties were forced to stop throwing money down the rathole.

No one in the US was threatened by North Vietnam or the Viet Cong. The anti war movement defeated Nixon and Ford and put an end to the stupid, useless war and the draft as well.

[Plane]

  Pish tosh.

Nixon used Kissinger to end our involvement in the Vietnam war, which went on without us about as it went before we got in.

Would you rather Blame Truman ,Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson who each got us more involved or Nixon, who tapered us out as if Vietnam was not worth the candle? 

[Xavier_Onassis]

The US took over from the French, The side we supported was the side that collaborated with the French colonialists.
It was a lost cause from the beginning.

Nixon was FORCED to "Vietnamize" the war because the military could no longer get enough suckers soldiers to keep it going. The ,military industrial complex was quite happy to keep it going forever. Kissinger was simply the means to an end: he managed to guarantee that the Chinese would not move in and take over. It was certainly beneficial to China to get access for exports to the US than to get access to the rather sparse resources that China could get from Indochina,

Mohammad Ali was one of the many brave souls who stood up and refused to perpetuate the stupidity that was the Vietnam War.

Nixon had to end the war: the situation had him by the balls. He had no choice.  His "secret plan" was non existent.

[Plane]

    With this in mind , what is Hillary Clintons plan to fight Obama's Wars?

[Xavier_Onassis]

There are not a lot pof American troops involved in Iraq or Afghanistan, and not many at risk,
I think the strategy is to defeat Isis in Syria and Iraq and gradually withdraw from there and Afghanistan. I don't see where Trump has any sort of real plan. He just likes to rant about whatever Obama is doing or Hillary plans to do is all wrong. It is pretty clear that US involvement will never solve the problems of any of  these countries. We can offer strategic advice and weapons. The rest is up to them.

[Plane]

There are not a lot pof American troops involved in Iraq or Afghanistan, and not many at risk,

What does this mean?

Instead of winning or trying to , we will keep our loss reasonable by dooming a small number?

If it takes ten to be safe lets send three?

[Xavier_Onassis]

What would "winning" be?   Statehood for Iraq?  Colonies in Syria?  Declare Afghanistan a Nat8onal Park?
The only real US interest is that none of these countries serve as a base for terrorists that might threaten us. We cannot put permanent bases there as we have done in Korea.

A 'victory' would be preventing these countries from threatening us.
Israel has managed to protect itself from Syria and Lebanon pretty well.
Peace needs to happen so all the refugees can return to their home countries.

[Plane]

It looks as if you have totally answered your own question.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Most military brass want to far outnumber the enemy.
This is very expensive, thougyh it can make the campaign safer.
Any president has to balance what the brass tells him with what past experience has revealed to be effective.

I don't think that Trump has the ability to make this sort of decision. He is a know-it-all that likes to make big impressions.
Bill Clinton risked very few lives of troops in his eight years.
Fewer than Olebush, many fewer than Juniorbush.
Hillary was there beside him, watching. If Hillary is president she can draw on Bill's experience.
I see Trump as the sort of guy who would rely on fools like Rumsfeld, Feith and Cheney.

[Plane]

Most military brass want to far outnumber the enemy.

Outclassing the enemy works too.

This is very expensive, thougyh it can make the campaign safer.

You put more in , you get more back alive, make your choice

Any president has to balance what the brass tells him with what past experience has revealed to be effective.

Obama experience ? He doesn't know his corps

I don't think that Trump has the ability to make this sort of decision. He is a know-it-all that likes to make big impressions.

Yes

Bill Clinton risked very few lives of troops in his eight years.
Fewer than Olebush, many fewer than Juniorbush.
Hillary was there beside him, watching. If Hillary is president she can draw on Bill's experience.
I see Trump as the sort of guy who would rely on fools like Rumsfeld, Feith and Cheney.

Clinton needed war to distract the press so we went to war. I don't think he ever took it seriously.
Obama went to more war than any President before.(except Clinton)

Don't run down Rumsfeld unless you can point out how his ideas were superseded by better ones with Obama or Clinton.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Don't run down Rumsfeld unless you can point out how his ideas were superseded by better ones with Obama or Clinton.

Rumsfeld was the idiot who decided on the anti-Baathist plan that resulted in a religious war and no police on the street.
That was far and away the stupidest feature of the Iraq invasion, at least other than deciding to invade on false evidence.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Obama in tune with his Oligarchy handlers has turned Libya and Syria into nightmare situations.

Obama for years has called for the ouster of Assad and supported very questionable "rebel" groups to oust Assad.

First Obama supported groups fighting a war on Assad.

Now Obama is bombing groups trying to overthrow Assad.

Assad will outlast Obama in power...

[Xavier_Onassis]

Obama had bupkiss to do with starting the Syrian Civil War. Juniorbush overthrew Iraq, Rumsfeld and Cheney fired all the Iraqi Army and the police (Sunnis, most of them) and that provoked an Iraqi religious war. Then Petreus had to arm the Sunnis in Western Iraq, former Baathists with military training , who then took the weapons away from the wimpy Shiite new Iraqi Army and thus Isis was born, and well armed with Humvees and all that good stuff our taxes paid for.

Assad is a bastard, but one who can be contained by normal means. He did not attempt any Syrian attacks on the Israeli border to regain the lands they snatched from him. Isis would be intractable bastards, and need to be done away with.

Why you think you are some effing expert on Syrian politics beats Hell outta me.