ex-Georgetown coach John Thompsons incredible 9/11 story

[Big Old Booger]

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/35169/john-thompsons-surreal-911-story

This is not OU basketball related, but it is basketball related as it has to do with John Thompson's (Sr.) incredible 9/11 story.

Long story short, he was supposed to be on the plane that was flown into the pentagon to fly to LA to appear on the Jim Rome show, but a Rome staffer was able to convince Thompson to move his flight back 1 day. Thompson wasn't willing to move his flight but the Jim Rome staffer was very persistent. So, now Thompson tells people that Jim Rome saved his life.

In the article is a link to the actual podcast of his latest appearance on the Jim Rome show. Check it out, too, if you have time.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

i will have to listen to that.
sounds pretty awesome

 

[bocabull]

IMO on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 we should honor the victims, but the main focus should be on how un-American our response was. We lowered ourselves to their level. Instead of constantly grandstanding and giving them attention we should have walked quietly and carried a huge stick.

ie. We should have downplayed their capabilities (which have always been ridiculously low) while covertly targeting them and blowing them to hell where they belong 1 by 1.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

IMO on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 we should honor the victims, but the main focus should be on how un-American our response was. We lowered ourselves to their level. Instead of constantly grandstanding and giving them attention we should have walked quietly and carried a huge stick.

ie. We should have downplayed their capabilities (which have always been ridiculously low) while covertly targeting them and blowing them to hell where they belong 1 by 1.

i don't quit get what you are getting at. We shouldn't have made a get deal out of it? Not covered it?

 

[thebigabd]

Eventually, we (and others) will learn that you cant occupy a country for decades.

The war in Afghanistan should have lasted about 6 months to a year, and the war in Iraq should not have happened at all.

Taliban refuses to give up Bin Laden... ok, destroy them. Send troops in, invade, destroy, etc. Pull out after 12 months max. We should have been out of there by 2003.

Imagine the shape we would be in if Iraq never happened and we were only running special ops since 2003 in Afghanistan. We would have a better situation in the middle east, thousands of americans would be alive, billions and billions of dollars would have been saved, etc.

Instead, we are bogged down, weakened, tired, and broke. For what? For a corrupt government in Afghanistan that is extremely fragile and an Iranian proxy in Iraq? Thats not what you should get for thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.

 

[WTSooner]

Eventually, we (and others) will learn that you cant occupy a country for decades.

The war in Afghanistan should have lasted about 6 months to a year, and the war in Iraq should not have happened at all.

Taliban refuses to give up Bin Laden... ok, destroy them. Send troops in, invade, destroy, etc. Pull out after 12 months max. We should have been out of there by 2003.

Imagine the shape we would be in if Iraq never happened and we were only running special ops since 2003 in Afghanistan. We would have a better situation in the middle east, thousands of americans would be alive, billions and billions of dollars would have been saved, etc.

Instead, we are bogged down, weakened, tired, and broke. For what? For a corrupt government in Afghanistan that is extremely fragile and an Iranian proxy in Iraq? Thats not what you should get for thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.

:facepalm

 

[Sooner04]

Eventually, we (and others) will learn that you cant occupy a country for decades.

The war in Afghanistan should have lasted about 6 months to a year, and the war in Iraq should not have happened at all.

Taliban refuses to give up Bin Laden... ok, destroy them. Send troops in, invade, destroy, etc. Pull out after 12 months max. We should have been out of there by 2003.

Imagine the shape we would be in if Iraq never happened and we were only running special ops since 2003 in Afghanistan. We would have a better situation in the middle east, thousands of americans would be alive, billions and billions of dollars would have been saved, etc.

Instead, we are bogged down, weakened, tired, and broke. For what? For a corrupt government in Afghanistan that is extremely fragile and an Iranian proxy in Iraq? Thats not what you should get for thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.

I agree. We learned nothing from the Russians and their debacle there a generation ago.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Eventually, we (and others) will learn that you cant occupy a country for decades.

The war in Afghanistan should have lasted about 6 months to a year, and the war in Iraq should not have happened at all.

Taliban refuses to give up Bin Laden... ok, destroy them. Send troops in, invade, destroy, etc. Pull out after 12 months max. We should have been out of there by 2003.

Imagine the shape we would be in if Iraq never happened and we were only running special ops since 2003 in Afghanistan. We would have a better situation in the middle east, thousands of americans would be alive, billions and billions of dollars would have been saved, etc.

Instead, we are bogged down, weakened, tired, and broke. For what? For a corrupt government in Afghanistan that is extremely fragile and an Iranian proxy in Iraq? Thats not what you should get for thousands of lives and trillions of dollars.

I won't touch Iraq b/c its good that Sadaam is no longer around but i also don't think we needed to go in necessarily.

However what you said about putting a time limit on a war is just naive. plain and simple.

 

[DenverSooner]

The problem is the west wants to have civilized wars. They only want to kill the "bad" guy and then they want to help the survivors. Screw that. If you are going to war, go to war and kill people. That is the purpose of war. This nation building stuff is a complete waste of effort. Yes it worked in Japan and Germany but the world destroyed them to a point far beyond what any western government is willing to do today. In Germany and Japan they had no choice but to rebuild with the world's assistance. There is nothing to rebuild in these third world countries.

 

[thebigabd]

I agree. We learned nothing from the Russians and their debacle there a generation ago.

Exactly. We have been there for 10 years, and our boys are still getting nickle and dimed, just like the Russians did.

However what you said about putting a time limit on a war is just naive. plain and simple.

Its less of a time limit and more of saying that we could topple the taliban, destroy al-qaeda training bases, and chase them into the mountains in less than a year. In fact, thats what happened. The remaining time is us driving around, trying to win the support of the people, and trying to build a western style democracy in a country full of tribal factions who hate one another and have no developed/modern system of government, economics, etc.

The objectives should have been:

1.) Destroy Al-Qaeda
2.) Topple Taliban
3.) Setup a situation that allows for continued special operations to find and kill Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda.
4.) Leave

Instead, we have lingered around for 10 years, gone bankrupt, and are fighting new and old taliban supporters from Pakistan and around the region all the time. Its never ending.

The problem is the west wants to have civilized wars. They only want to kill the "bad" guy and then they want to help the survivors. Screw that. If you are going to war, go to war and kill people. That is the purpose of war. This nation building stuff is a complete waste of effort. Yes it worked in Japan and Germany but the world destroyed them to a point far beyond what any western government is willing to do today. In Germany and Japan they had no choice but to rebuild with the world's assistance. There is nothing to rebuild in these third world countries.

Spot on.