Not so experienced after all; Special Operations recruitments

From blog; Today in Iraq

Sounds like Rummy is recruiting Heritage Foundation Rambos. "Internal Pentagon briefings describe Strategic Support Branch members as experienced intelligence professionals with specialized skills, 'military operations backgrounds,' and the training to "function in all environments under adverse conditions." But four special operations soldiers who provided information for this article, directly or through intermediaries, said those assigned to work with them included out-of-shape men in their fifties and recent college graduates on their first assignments. 'They arrived with shiny black kneepads and elbow pads, shiny black helmets,' said one special forces officer who served with Waldroup's men in Iraq. 'They brought M-4 rifles with all the accoutrements, scopes and high-end [satellite equipment] they didn't know how to use.' An older member of Waldroup's staff 'became an anchor because of his physical conditioning and his lack of knowledge of our tactics, techniques and procedures. The guy actually put us in danger.'" Fat-assed fifty-somethings and college kids? Sounds like Rummy’s using the same recruiting pool Bremer used to staff the Coalition Provisional Authority. And why put this super-secret outfit under command of a shady reservist when plenty of trained and motivated professionals are available? We all know the answer because we’ve seen the pattern before. The ideologues don’t like the advice they get from the professionals, so they recruit some ideologically sound True Believers and set up an alternative to the professionals. It’s the pattern they used to create the illusion of WMD when the CIA professionals disagreed, to hype their prescription drug bill when the professionals disagreed about the cost, and, most infamously, to circumvent US and international law in order to justify the use of torture.


Today in Iraq