Norman Schwarzkopf, RIP
Schwarzkopf became “CINC-Centcom” in 1988 and when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait three years later to punish it for allegedly stealing Iraqi oil reserves, he commanded Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of some 30 countries organized by President George H.W. Bush that succeeded in driving the Iraqis out.
“Gen. Norm Schwarzkopf, to me, epitomized the ‘duty, service, country’ creed that has defended our freedom and seen this great nation through our most trying international crises,” Bush said in a statement. “More than that, he was a good and decent man — and a dear friend.”
At the peak of his postwar national celebrity, Schwarzkopf — a self-proclaimed political independent — rejected suggestions that he run for office, and remained far more private than other generals, although he did serve briefly as a military commentator for NBC.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »
Welcome home, General.
CurtZHP on December 27, 2012 at 9:34 PM
Godspeed, General.
A truly great American in every way shape and form.
If you haven’t read his memoirs, now would be a good time.
Sad…
turfmann on December 27, 2012 at 9:34 PM
God bless you GEN Schwarzkopf
ted c on December 27, 2012 at 9:34 PM
God Bless General Schwarzkopf and his family..May he rest in peace..
Dire Straits on December 27, 2012 at 9:39 PM
He was OK. I guess he was one of the best peace time generals we’ve produced. A reading of a number of works suggests he wasn’t the a Konev or Zhukov, that’s for sure.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 9:40 PM
Indeed.
Oldnuke on December 27, 2012 at 9:47 PM
Served in the first Gulf War under Schwarzkopf. There are a lot of Americans who came home from that war because he believed in using overwhelming force to minimize casualties.
brewcrew67 on December 27, 2012 at 9:50 PM
There are a lot of Americans who came home from that war because he believed in using overwhelming force to minimize casualties.
I wish he had been better at coordinating operations….He did stand up to the 82nd and the Marines, who seemed, at certain levels, to salivate over the need to produce an combat drop or an over the beach operation.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 9:56 PM
Not sure if you’re new here – generally (no pun) the way it works here: +RIP means you speak well of the person or, at the very least, acknowledge his/her passing. That said, we lost one of the greats today and it pains me to say it will be a long time til we see someone in the same vein…
affenhauer on December 27, 2012 at 9:56 PM
Should have been [person's name]+ RIP. Keep telling myself: preview is your friend…
affenhauer on December 27, 2012 at 9:58 PM
Godspeed, you will be missed.
Panther on December 27, 2012 at 9:59 PM
Godspeed General!
dmann on December 27, 2012 at 10:07 PM
Not sure if you’re new here – generally (no pun) the way it works here: +RIP means you speak well of the person or, at the very least, acknowledge his/her passing. That said, we lost one of the greats today and it pains me to say it will be a long time til we see someone in the same vein…
Well I’m not new here, but thanks for telling me to BE QUIET, because…he’s dead. He wasn’t great, he was adequate. A control freak, who micro-managed his war and brow-beat his staff…didn’t exactly let 3rd Army fight it’s war…didn’t coordinate well with Franks at VII Corps, moved the Fire Support Coordination Line out into the Gulf, well before the end because he was too frightened of blue-on-blue…he never made clear his “vision” for the battlefield at the end of the campaign…and he spend a LOT of time acting as if the Iraqi’s were the “Wehrmacht.”
Was he McClellan, No but neither was he MacArthur, nor a Grant.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:08 PM
Sad to hear this. Stormin Norman was a true American Patriot in the finest tradition of our military.
wildcat72 on December 27, 2012 at 10:09 PM
The article lists his decorations. He was a true warrior general, unlike the PC “perfumed princes” (h/t late Col David Hackworth, another soldier in every sense of the word) who seem so prevalent today.
FirelandsO3 on December 27, 2012 at 10:10 PM
Stormin Norman! Always respected that dude. Warrior through and through. RIP and God Speed, good sir!
dczombie on December 27, 2012 at 10:12 PM
Stop
dmann on December 27, 2012 at 10:13 PM
We would never have had to ever go back to Iraq if Bush `41 hadn’t gone wobbly and didn’t listen to his general who wanted to go on to Baghdad and take Hussein out.
Instead, Bush forced him to stop in southern Iraq, when he had the troops and the overwhelming momentum (he had just won with few casualties the largest tank battle in history) and could have taken the whole snake down in days.
wildcat72 on December 27, 2012 at 10:16 PM
He was a GI’s general, in the tradition of Omar Bradley.
I know ex army who served under him and I’ve never heard anything but praise.
wildcat72 on December 27, 2012 at 10:18 PM
Dude, I generally like your comments but quit while you’re ahead (or not so far behind). I’m guessing you’re young.
He was the mastermind of the “Right Hook”. There has probably never been a more decisive offensive in the history of military operations.
Definitely not a time to nit-pick his command.
Rest In Peace, Stormin Norman.
hawkdriver on December 27, 2012 at 10:20 PM
The article lists his decorations. He was a true warrior general, unlike the PC “perfumed princes” (h/t late Col David Hackworth, another soldier in every sense of the word) who seem so prevalent today.
Uh yeah, because we’ve lost so many of our wars, since 1991….Please, let’s geatreal, he’s like the British Generals who beat up on “Fuzzy Wuzzie” in the 19th C. Sir Garnett Wolsey and Lord Kitchener were adequate, but they weren’t great, they beat opponents they out-classed, you know like Norman Schwarzkopf did.
Will his family miss him, I suspect so. Did he show leadership, yes…he stood up to the Army and the 82nd Mafia, The Marines, was more than willing to let the US Army’s major enemy, the US Air Force “win” the war, in order to lessen casualties. But please, let’s don’t throw the word “great” around because he wasn’t great, he was good enough. He’s wasn’t the Nick Saban/Bill Belichick, generals. He was James Franklin (Vandy’s coach) of generals.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:20 PM
Stormin Norman fought Gulf War I the way the second one should have been (and wasn’t) by Rumsfeld. He went in with OVERWHELMING force (not cheap on a budget) and steamrolled Saddam Hussein (to the point they could have simply DRIVEN to Baghdad and ended the regime) within hours rather than the second gulf war when an already weakened Hussein (thanks to Schwarzkoft) was able to slow the initial invasion to a crawl.
I find no fault whatsoever in how he commanded our armed forces, and indeed, he was probably the most outstanding general we had post World War II.
Anything he failed to accomplish was because of George HW Bush and Colin Powell’s mushy spines.
wildcat72 on December 27, 2012 at 10:22 PM
The mother of all tank battles.
Which “Stormin” Norman Schwarzkoft planned and won.
wildcat72 on December 27, 2012 at 10:25 PM
He was the mastermind of the “Right Hook”. There has probably never been a more decisive offensive in the history of military operations.
Definitely not a time to nit-pick his command.
I guess if you want to worship at his altar, go ahead.
He took a Coalition Air Force that out-numbered the Iraqi’s, had better a/c than the Iraqi’s, better weapons, better pilots. better doctrine…and let that almost infinitely more powerful tool “flog” the Iraqi’s for 6 weeks, in a setting, military and geographic that allowed air power its fullest scope.
Then took a ground force that OUT-NUMBERED the Iraqi’s and went around their fixed fortifications. Uh, that’s not rocket science….
His ground forces out-numbered their opponents, had better gear, better training, better doctrine, had more than adequate logistics, versus an Iraqi military bereft of logistic support and then he won, handily.
Rather than Stormin Norman I credit the SAMS, the folks who developed AirLand Battle, Gus Pagonis, and the like who produced the extremely competent US Military…basically Schwarzkopf took the NE Patriots, or at least the Dallas Cowboys and defeated a High school team…we coudda lost, but it would have been extremely difficult.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:28 PM
Sorry. But STFU. Leave the thread.
hawkdriver on December 27, 2012 at 10:29 PM
The intent was more along the lines of ‘be respectful’ rather than ‘be quiet’. Sorry for any ambiguity…
affenhauer on December 27, 2012 at 10:31 PM
I find no fault whatsoever in how he commanded our armed forces, and indeed, he was probably the most outstanding general we had post World War II.
I guess if you overlook Puller and a number of others in Korea, or Creighton Abrams in Vietnam, OK.
within hours rather than the second gulf war when an already weakened Hussein (thanks to Schwarzkoft) was able to slow the initial invasion to a crawl.
And that might have something to do with both the distances involved and the terrain….
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:31 PM
82ND Mafia? Dude what is your problem?
hawkdriver on December 27, 2012 at 10:31 PM
Sounds like a washout…
affenhauer on December 27, 2012 at 10:34 PM
JFKY…Serious freakin’ dumbass
Panther on December 27, 2012 at 10:35 PM
Sorry. But STFU. Leave the thread.
Yeah if you were someone of authority, that might have some effect, I guess, but otherwise just sod off swampie…
The intent was more along the lines of ‘be respectful’ rather than ‘be quiet’. Sorry for any ambiguity… were saying what again? Because I’d say the post above yours suggests an entirely different tone.
I am respectful, what I am not is a hagiographer of Norman Schwarzkopf. He was adequate. He beat up an entirely outclassed military. He didn’t screw that up. He deployed the forces well, but that has as much to do with good staff work by Pagonis and others as him.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:36 PM
Sounds like a washout…
Or someone who just notes that members of the Airborne Mafia salivate at the thought of getting in another combat drop decoration… as in Korea, Vietnam, and in OIF….are they necessary? Do they achieve anything? No, but at least “we” all get the coveted combat drop patch, right?
Grenada, Panama, I can see the drop…but in most other cases, to include Gulf War II, not so much.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:39 PM
Thankfully, you only disrespect yourself.
dmann on December 27, 2012 at 10:40 PM
The post above mine, I didn’t post. I only speak for me here, which is surely a relief for all other posters…
affenhauer on December 27, 2012 at 10:40 PM
Personally, I’d give Petraeus at least as good of “props” as Schwarzkopf. Possibly more, because there was almost no way for Schwarzkopf to lose, his conventional war, whereas it was entirely possible that Petraeus could have lost the Surge.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:41 PM
Dying of curiosity to see what division he served in.
JFKY, I have to tell you. In all of the years commenting here, I’ve never seen a more disrespectful display out of a fellow Conservative for someone who deserved to be honored in death. There’s a time and a place for everything. Your comments tonight regarding your opinion of a fellow serviceman are much better placed in your military memoirs. Say about a decade from now.
hawkdriver on December 27, 2012 at 10:43 PM
At least you have enough honor not to claim washout-status – I do respect you for that…
affenhauer on December 27, 2012 at 10:43 PM
Petrayus faced a diminished enemy but with a US military that had been diminished by 8 years of Clinton.
He is great.
Schwarzkoft faced superior numbers and made a joke of them. They proved that Soviet arms is a joke, including their best tank, compared to American arms.
wildcat72 on December 27, 2012 at 10:44 PM
The post above mine, I didn’t post. I only speak for me here, which is surely a relief for all other posters…
I didn’t think you were, just pointing out that yours is mostly an isolated sentiment.
I’m not DISrespectful, I am making an evaluation…some folks seem so desperate for military glory and victory that they make efforts to elevate Gulf War II to some epic victory akin to France 1940. It wasn’t…it was won as much at NTC and the environs of Ft. Knox, and by folks like Don Starry and Don Holder, USAF Gen. Creech and Creighton Abrams, and indirectly by Depuy as much as by anything Gen. Schwarzkopf did.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:46 PM
SMH
Christien on December 27, 2012 at 10:49 PM
Point taken – if the Iraqis couldn’t take Iran down in 10 years….
Still – you have to consider the General’s entire record. Which I will *not* get into via iPhone…
affenhauer on December 27, 2012 at 10:51 PM
Schwarzkoft faced superior numbers and made a joke of them. They proved that Soviet arms is a joke, including their best tank, compared to American arms.
No, the Coalition actually outnumbered the Iraqi’s…on the ground. By as much as 30%…the Iraqi Army did not deploy at “book strength” in Aug. 1990. And by Feb 1991, as much as 30% of it’s actual strength had deserted.
I believe combat in Lebanon had already demonstrated that the T-72 was an adequate vehicle, but not a match for even the M-60. As to the rest, I can’t think of a Red Leg who felt that Iraqi artillery had an edge in anything but range….no one lived in fear of the BMP-1 or the various BTR/PRC APC’s fielded by Iraq.
JFKY, I have to tell you. In all of the years commenting here, I’ve never seen a more disrespectful display out of a fellow Conservative for someone who deserved to be honored in death
I haven’t dishonoured him…I haven’t slobbered over his “greatness”… because he wasn’t great.
BTW, just because I’m a Conservative, why am I expected to heap praise on the guy?
As I say, I’m sure his family feels the loss. He did decide to tell the 82nd and the Marines, “Just because it’s your reason to exist doesn’t mean we’re going to do it.” He did let the US Air Force “win” the war, much to the Army’s unhappiness-knowing that the USAF was going to use Gulf II as a reason to “win” the post-Cold War budget battles. He was a decent commander….
Caesar he was not. He deployed CentCom…he beat up an opponent he outnumbered on air, land and sea…he didn’t lose. If that’s your baseline for great, then I can’t help you.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:54 PM
Keep digging son: and on your way down try to remember; duty, honor, country.
dmann on December 27, 2012 at 10:56 PM
JFKY, probably not appropriate to continue the ridiculous exchange where a simple condolence should have been offered. But I really would like to know what division you served in.
hawkdriver on December 27, 2012 at 10:56 PM
Too bad they didn’t finish off Saddam, but that was not his call.
He was one of the last good/honest generals.
Today’s are only interested in the 4th star upon retirement, or the next one up. What they swore to uphold is not significant any longer. The generals are the biggest PC swine, minions of Obama.
——————
Sometimes on HA it makes one ashamed to be associated with people from the right.
Schadenfreude on December 27, 2012 at 10:57 PM
Point taken – if the Iraqis couldn’t take Iran down in 10 years….
Never a more pointless, or at least futile war was waged…neither Iran nor Iraq demonstrated any real ability in that war…a lot of blood, a lot of treasure…and neither side could muster the professionalism to adequately mass their advantages, and both sides had advantages, to achieve any end on the battlefield.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 10:59 PM
Armchair
Schadenfreude on December 27, 2012 at 11:00 PM
Which Division? Or were you another service?
hawkdriver on December 27, 2012 at 11:03 PM
Keep digging son: and on your way down try to remember; duty, honor, country.
OK, whatever…he won. He beat the Iraqi’s…he’d have had to have been blind drunk to have lost, but he won. He didn’t sacrifice US lives to win postwar budget battles…OK, so what else am I supposed to say?
I didn’t know him couldn’t tell you what he was like as father, husband or colleague…so beyond saying, I’m sure they feel the loss, what am I supposed to say?
But his claim to fame is his prowess as a general…and I just don’t think he was that great.
JFKY, probably not appropriate to continue the ridiculous exchange where a simple condolence should have been offered. But I really would like to know what division you served in.
Heck if that’s all it takes, I’m sure his relatives miss him. He served honourably. “Thank you for your service”
I’ve never claimed I served in ANY division, didn’t know I had to have served, in Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines to have noted what I’ve noted. Just a good reading of history and analysis will get you a long way to seeing what I said.
JFKY on December 27, 2012 at 11:06 PM
Good night everyone.
Rest In peace General.
hawkdriver on December 27, 2012 at 11:09 PM
Comment pages: 1 2 Next »