Larry Williams (Ret. U.S. Marine Corps)

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Larry Williams teaches [2002] at George Washington University. Williams served in both Vietnam and Lebanon. [1]

War in Iraq

• "What is the actual threat to the United States -- the purpose of war?

"Chemical and biological weapons, Williams argues, are not weapons of mass destruction. 'They are very inefficient and unpredictable and hard to use effectively. Casualty-producing, yes, but not on a large scale.'

"Says Williams: 'Even if the Iraqis make a nuclear device -- which also concerns me -- what would they do with it? The Mideast is not alarmed. Why are we -- thousands of miles away -- alarmed to the degree of war?'" [2]

• "How will you govern a defeated Iraq?

"'Of course, a military victory is as assured as it was at the outset of Desert Storm. But then, how will you govern a country probably still resisting through guerrilla activity and in which we do not speak the language? Will your military forces be confined to cantonments at night because they do not control the streets of Baghdad?'" [3]

• "How does the war against Iraq contribute to winning the war against terrorism?

"'The origin of the attacks of 9/11 and the preceding chain of attacks against the embassy in Beirut and the Marine barracks in 1983 and other embassies thereafter were in the Arab/Muslim world. Victory in the war against terrorism must necessarily be found in that worldwide presence. How does alienating every facet of that world contribute to victory in the current war on terrorism?'

"Williams, a career Marine who insists that his thoughts are his and not to be linked to George Washington University, says he learned in Beirut and South Vietnam that his government didn't always have better information than he had -- not because officials lied but because critical details were filtered out as communiques made their way up the chain of command." [4]

See Operation Iraqi Freedom: Military and Political Dissent.

External links

• William Raspberry, "Marine questions commander in chief," Times-Union, September 30, 2002.