US military surprised by speed, timing of Russia military action

[rainbow4321]

Why do I find this "we were surprised" hard to believe??



http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080811222408.40e5p19r&show_article=1

The US military was surprised by the timing and swiftness of the Russian military's move into South Ossetia and is still trying to sort out what happened, a US defense official said Monday.

That the two countries were on a collision course was no surprise to anyone, but the devastating Russian response was not expected, officials said.

"We were tracking it earlier in that week and we knew that things were escalating," said a military official, who asked not to be identified. "I can tell you it moved quicker than we anticipated that first day."

The United States has among the most powerful tools for monitoring brewing conflicts, from spy satellites to reconnaissance aircraft and drones capable of scooping up radio signals or capture real-time images of forces on the ground. But the extent to which they were trained on this remote conflict before it turned violent is not known.

[spanone]

1. you'd think 600 billion would buy a military that wasn't surprised by anything

[ingac70]

2. I don't find it hard to believe...

These idiots (Bush Admin.) listen to stupid neocons in think tanks who just pull stuff out of their ass and call it "intelligence". This is passed on to our military as fact.

[babylonsister]

3. What a bunch of crap! nt

[tularetom]

4. The russians do not blab their intentions to the world like the insecure neocons

Rightly or wrongly, if they feel they need to react they react. Not necessary to run all over the world building a "coalition". They act more like a superpower than we do.

And you can't tell me an authority on all things russian (like our crack Sec of State) couldn't have seen this coming? Yeah, I know, "nobody could have predicted..."

[bushmeister0]

5. Maybethe military should spend less time spying on W.'s domestic poltical enemies and more time

keeping an eye on our real enemies.

[daleo]

6. I think this is partly true and partly a lie

They probably were surprised that the Russians got to the tunnel so fast. I don't think they were surprised by the Georgians initial attack, though. The Bush administration will be feigning surprise, very publicly, though, to cover up their recklessness in goading the Georgians into this action.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Well, it's understandable. Being buried under all the money congress has flung at them.

Which will undoubtedly increase now that an improved, bigger, and more ferocious bogeyman has appeared that they can scare the public with.

[shadowknows69]

8. Here's a thought

Maybe some armies actually learn from their previous victories AND defeats. I haven't seen a lot of evidence that ours does.

[tuckessee]

Not every military is a ponderous giant who must soften everything for days

or weeks before finally moving on the ground.

[gratuitous]

9. I can't imagine why they'd be surprised

And let's face it, no matter what we'd like to do, we're pretty much powerless. We don't have any military might to project. We don't exactly have any moral authority to stop Russia from violating the sovereignty of another nation so as to effect regime change. Seems like a perfect time to invade, and it's not like this is anything near what anyone would consider a fair fight.