My Rapid Response On Tora Bora

George Bush dragged Tora Bora back into the news, the Kerry team delivered a Rapid Response, and I put forward a tedious response below.

Since we only have seven days until the election, let me summarize it: John Kerry apparently thinks he is smarter than his generals, and will micromanage the war; George Bush will let his generals make the battlefield decisions.

The WaPo has a recent article reviewing the second-guessing on Tora Bora. The lead:

Soon after arriving as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1, 2001, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers raised doubts about the war plan -- days from execution -- to topple the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Gen. Tommy R. Franks, then chief of U.S. Central Command, planned a single thrust toward the Afghan capital from the north.

Franks anticipated, correctly, that resistance from Taliban and al Qaeda fighters would collapse. He did not, however, position a blocking force to meet them as they fled. Some Bush administration officials now acknowledge privately they consider that a costly mistake.

Hindsight is often 20/20. My takeaway - if the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff chose not to overrule his subordinate, why should Bush? This article actually strenghtens Bush's case - the issue was identified, alternatives were weighed, and a decision was made. We all wish the right guess had been made, but I, at least, am glad that the decision making team was aware of the issues and the alternatives.

If Kerry is campaigning on a promise to make the battlefield decisions and always make the right ones, good for him. Say Anything, John.

MORE: The transcript which provided Bush's ammo is excerpted at this post; please also note that, on Dec 14, 2001 Kerry was obsessing about Saddam. And let's all give props to Rich Lowry - from the NRO to Bush's lips.

UPDATE: Charles Krauthammer crushes Kerry:

This election comes down to a choice between one man's evolution and the other man's resolution. With his endlessly repeated Tora Bora charges, Kerry has made Afghanistan a major campaign issue. So be it. Whom do you want as president? The man who conceived the Afghan campaign, carried it through without flinching when it was being called a "quagmire" during its second week and has seen it through to Afghanistan's transition to democracy? Or the retroactive genius, who always knows what needs to be done after it has already happened -- who would have done "everything" differently in Iraq, yet in Afghanistan would have replicated Bush's every correct, courageous, radical and risky decision -- except one. Which, of course, he would have done differently. He says. Now.

Comments

[Dave Schuler]

John Kerry apparently thinks he is smarter than his generals, and will micromanage the war; George Bush will let his generals make the battlefield decisions.

Yes, those are the managerial styles of Democratic and Republican presidents, respectively: Carter and Clinton were both notorious for micro-management; Eisenhower, Reagan, and Bush 43 for giving their staffs substantial latitude. And, for reasons that aren't clear to me, each of their respective partisans seem to believe that these opposing styles are strengths of their respective candidates.

[Crank]

Kerry won't just make all the battlefield decisions - he'll also write up all the after-action reports!

[Remy Logan]

Lyndon Johnson micromanaged the Vietnam War and lost it.

Jimmy Carter (our highest IQ president?) micromanaged the Iran hostage rescue and the hostages remained in captivity until the day Reagan became president.

When a Libyan fighter was shooting at our fighters, Ronald Reagan (our first stupid cowboy president) was woken up in the middle of the night and told of the situation. He said to shoot down the Libyan jets, and then went back to sleep. We didn't have problems with the Libyans for a long time after that.

John Kerry (self-proclaimed genius) would have gone after OBL and killed him, and created a Muslim martyr who would have never died.

History has not treated our "smart" presidents very kindly.

[roofer]

If I'm reading Tommy Franks' "American Soldier" correctly. Myers did not and does not have the authority to overrule the CinC of Central Command. Franks makes it clear in several points in the book that he reported directly to Rumsfeld.

Now, what it is exactly that the four-star service chiefs and the chairman of the JCS do, I'm not really sure, but, apparently, a 1986 military reorganization removed them from the direct chain of operational command.

[Lurking Observer]

Remy:

Let's not forget that Bush 41 pretty much didn't micromanage the first Gulf War, until after Kuwait was liberated. At which point, he decided that it was time to end the war (with the advice of Powell, Scowcroft, Cheney, etc.).

So, he did fine until he started managing closely.

Roofer:

Actually, I believe it was the opposite. I think the chairman of the JCS is now also the President's advisor on military affairs, which was not the case previously.

Of course, at that stratospheric level, it's as much discussion as it is formal order issuing.