I don't care how many credentials this man has, he says incredibly stupid things

i posted about a fred kagan op-ed in the nyt back in early may... his op-ed was entitled, "Plan B? Let’s Give Plan A Some Time First"... my comment at the time was this...

these guys just never give up, do they...? not only don't they ever give up, it seems that, no matter how terribly wrong they are or discredited they become, there's always a newspaper willing to give them space to air their delusions...

[...]

since when, i'd like to know, does a (former) professor of military history with a focus in eastern europe and the former soviet union get to claim expertise in insurgencies and civil wars in the middle east...? it's kind of like a long-haul, 18-wheeler driver, thinking he can move over to motorcycle racing...

so, today, i see, via think progress, that he's shooting off his mouth yet again...

Today, the American Enterprise Institute, a neoconservative think tank, held a discussion entitled “Assessing the Surge in Iraq,” featuring prominent Iraq war proponents like Fred Kagan, Gen. Jack Keane, and James Miller of the Center for a New American Security.

and, he-e-e-e-e-eeere's freddy...!

The worst that can be said of [the escalation] at this point is that the results have been mixed. I frankly think the results are less mixed…We can argue about statistics, but at the end of the day, that argument is not going to get us anywhere right now. … Whatever you can say about the current strategy, it has not failed.

ok, i'm not one to poke fun at anyone because of their looks, because, believe me, i have no room to talk... but, honestly, would you want anybody advising you on military strategy who looks like THIS...?



seriously... would you...?

A military historian who has taught at West Point, AEI resident scholar Frederick Kagan specializes in defense issues and the American military. In particular he studies defense transformation, the defense budget, and defense strategy and warfare. He has also written about Russian and European military history.

Professional Experience

-Associate professor of military history, 2001-2005; assistant professor of military history, 1995-2001; United States Military Academy (West Point)

Education

B.A., Soviet and East European studies; Ph.D., Russian and Soviet military history, Yale University

besides that, quite some time ago, i ceased being impressed with credentials, particularly after meeting a number of 24-carat, harvard, yale, and dartmouth-educated assholes... my response to kagan is rude, crude, and succinct... BFD... (and if you want to know what that means, ask around...)

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