Talk:Joseph Hoar

Military mentioned in Gore's speech:

"And the worst still lies ahead. General Joseph Hoar, the former head of the Marine Corps, said "I believe we are absolutely on the brink of failure. We are looking into the abyss."

"When a senior, respected military leader like Joe Hoar uses the word 'abyss,' then the rest of us damn well better listen. Here is what he means: more American soldiers dying, Iraq slipping into worse chaos and violence, no end in sight, with our influence and moral authority seriously damaged. Retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, who headed Central Command before becoming President Bush's personal emissary to the Middle East, said recently that our nation's current course is 'headed over Niagara Falls.' The Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, Army Major General Charles H. Swannack, Jr., asked by the Washington Post whether he believes the United States is losing the war in Iraq, replied, 'I think strategically, we are.' Army Colonel Paul Hughes, who directed strategic planning for the U.S. occupation authority in Baghdad, compared what he sees in Iraq to the Vietnam War, in which he lost his brother: 'I promised myself when I came on active duty that I would do everything in my power to prevent that ... from happening again.' Noting that Vietnam featured a pattern of winning battles while losing the war, Hughes added 'unless we ensure that we have coherence in our policy, we will lose strategically.'"