The Indictment Of Limpdick LEONARD

Case In Chief

From the ROBOTECH NAZI Party’s Website:
The Supreme Commander of all United Earth Forces, Leonard is well known for his hardened inflexibility once he has made his decision. Many put him down for his choices of tactics, however few realize the difficult position that Leonard was in. Subordinates, like General Emerson and Lieutenant Sterling, were constantly undermining his authority and directly disobeying orders. Politicians were leaning on him to get results and to attack and unknown enemy. His weapon systems were far inferior to those of the enemy. His resources were severely limited due to the first Robotech War and the “Rain Of Death” brought down upon the Earth by the Zentradi. Frankly it was amazing that Leonard did not go mad or just simply resign. However, he stuck it out to the bitter end. Strong, and unwavering, Leonard stated at his post and asked no more of his soldier then he was willing to give of himself; fight to the end and never give up. In the end, Leonard defeated this new enemy known only as “The Robotech Masters,” but it cost him his own life to do so. Even in the end, Leonard showed his strength of character, and his willingness to do what it took to protect the Earth. Standing in his command post atop the Army Of Southern Cross Command Tower, Leonard gave his life, as he had asked others to do before him, to see to it the enemy was defeated. Thought he had the chance to evacuate, he stood his post. His final words still echo in the minds and hearts of the DOL.
“Go if you want. I am staying here till the battle is over!”
Well, that’s certainly an interesting theory. On par with, say, the Supermen of neo-Nordic Mythos and other revisionist versions of history
The truth, unfortunately, is far more basic.
Field Marshal Anatole LEONARD is solely responsible for Terra’s DEFEAT in the Second ROBOTECH War, and by dint of such failure for Terra’s invasion b the Invid.
“Limpdick LEONARD” had fifteen YEARS to prepare for the Tiresian assault- An assault he knew to be possible, based on intelligence presented by the T’sentrædi allies he so particularly spurned.
It has been argued that the REF took “every” ROBOTECH weapon ever developed- This is, quite clearly, untrue, based on the fact the Limpdick HAD any Mecha, in particular Veritechs (most notably the Veritech Hover Tank and Veritech Logan “fighter”), and to a large extent the presences of what seems to be THOUSANDS of Spaceships including the BANSHEE-, GREMLIN-, GENEVA-, BATTLE-, DEFENDER-, TRISTAR-, and ARGONAUT-Classes.
Further, he had absolutely no excuse whatsoever for NOT manufacturing hundreds or more of the main cannon from the SDF-Ø1. Only laziness or xenophobia prevented this- Either he refused to do so because he didn’t want to be bothered to allocate the funding to do so, or he refused to do so because they were of alien design, we can not know which.
On the same note, he failed to produce sufficient numbers of nuclear and/or reflex missiles to destroy an enemy enr; With a few hundred thousand of these, defeat of the Tiresians- And latter the Invid- Would have been INEVITABLE. Even today, the most conservative estimate holds that we have the ability to “only” destroy the entire earth 2½ times over- Liberal estimates place it well on the order of 1ØØ times.
And a nuclear missile’s re-entry vehicle (the actual package that goes “¡BOOOOOOOOM!” somewhere) is, really, nothing more than a bomb- A naval mine is nothing more than a floating bomb. Ergo, a nuclear missile warhead is, really, nothing more than that space mine with legs. Deploy a few hundred million in a space-based platform, and at the first outset of hostilities release them in the most likely path of the invaders. This would be easily accomplished under even the most adverse of circumstances- Having served on a buoy tender, I can say, with some authority, that a buoy really IS a naval mine that someone forgot to arm- This based mostly on a mishap rpt that was read to me by my then-BMC.
A NOAA (Nation Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) WX buoy was being checked on after NOAA’s central processing center lost contact with it. A Boson when over to test the buoy’s hydrogen levels- If saltwater had gotten into the buoy, they would have corroded the batteries, releasing hydrogen which could then catch fire or even EXPLODE. Opening the peckcock, the analyzer revealed high levels of hydrogen- In fact, it peaked out. This means the levels were too high for the equipment to read. This is clearly a dangerous situation- The Boson was standing on a lit bomb.
He ordered everyone back in the boat and away from the buoy- Which promptly exploded about 5 minutes later (the small amount of air that had gotten in was enough, once it found a heat source).
Based on this MINOR incident, I say with authority that if converting a buoy- Or a satellite- To a mine is simply enough done, then converting a nuclear missile warhead to a mine is inherently possible.
Limpdick’s “strategy” (as his acolytes put it) was based on a desire to remain in power- General Rolf EMMERSON’S star was rising while his own was fading. To forestall the inevitable changing of the guards, he ordered his finest, most able militry commander to take PERSONAL command of what he called a “feint attack” on the Tiresians- ¡A feint indeed! It was designed at every level to be EMERSON’S death. LEONARD may well have of liked and respected EMERSON, but he knew a competitor- Especially a more powerful one- When he saw one, and EMERSON was too powerful to stop. If the feint HAD, in fact, not been meant to kill his friend, then it would have been arranged as a pincer attack, with all the resources necessary not only to draw out and tie up the enemy (and, perhaps, put them into confusion), but also to ensure their withdrawal was possible. Any militry commander who throws their forces at an enemy, knowing that they will die in a mere “feint attack” is either incompetent or a murder. Take your pick which
Though a win is a win is a win, the ASC didn’t. They were just as defeated as the Tiresians, but lived to wallow in their defeat.
The mistake, made so many times before, is to misunderstand strategic versus tactical “victory”; When General Pyrrhus beat off the Romans in 28Ø BC, at the end of the day he did, in fact, hold the ground- But at such ENORMOUS losses that the Romans were able to come back and take the ground later. Though it was a TACTICAL victory, it was a strategic defeat.
The analogy is all too apt. Though LEONARD’S forces did, in fact, hold the Tireasians off, they were so badly beaten back that a second force swept in and easily wiped away any resistance. (Some versions didn’t even hold to THIS standard, including the DOLL-Funded “Robotech Wikipedia” entry on The Robotech Wiki/Limpdick LEONARD).
The ASC LOST the Second ROBOTECH War.
Limpdick LEONARD’S Brownshirted apologists argue, “The Tiresians were and enemy no one on Terra knew existed until they arrived”.
Answer: Based on intelligence presented by the T’sentrædi allies he so particularly spurned, Limpdick LEONARD knew an assault to be possible at any time- Repulsing that attack was one of his PRIMARY DUTIES, and one which he failed to complete. (See also Argument on the Tirol Expedition, below.)
Limpdick LEONARD’S Sturmtruppen apologists argue, “The fact the UEF lost to the Invid is irrelevant.”.
Not so. Limpdick LEONARD’S failures as the Command-In-Chief of Terra’s defense paved the way for the eventual, indeed INEVITABLE, Invid victory over the ASC, much as France’s militry leaders failures during WWI paved the way for HILTER’S invasion during WWII. (Only the miracle of the US entering the war, and more precisely shutting off the flow of arms and other materiel, saved France from eventual defeat during the first war; Even THAT did not save them due to their many flagrant failures in the buildup to and outbreak of the second war.)
Argument on the Tirol Expedition
Limpdick LEONARD’S Sturmtruppen apologists argue, “Those same forces lost less than a year later to a group they had no intelligence or real forward warning about and whom they had never engaged in battle, nor any of their allies (otherwise, why didn’t the Zentraedi warn them about the Invid?)”
Yet will ALSO argue
“The Masters were defeated militarily by the combined forces of the UEF and The Pioneer Mission.”
Yet this flies DIRECTLY in the face of the “cannon” they hide behind so studiously; After all, the Pioneer Mission, the same Robotech Expeditionary Forces the DOLL’s allege ‘robbed’ Terra of “every Robotech weapons (they’d) developed”, was sent to Tirol SPECIFICALLY to seek out the Tiresians, dispatched SPECIFICALLY, under orders by the United Earth Government, to make contact with the same Tiresian Empire that attacked Terra. Ergo, the REF/ASC must have known they exist, and therefore that an assault of some sort WAS possible, if improbable; ¿How can LEONARD have not known they existed, if such a “massive” effort (of mostly one ship) was dispatched to meet that same threat on their own home turf? (I argue “if improbable” not because it is improbable, but simple to get past the off-point counter argument to be issued eventually by the Sturmtruppen that the invasion was never expected to occur, however ridiculous such an argument is.)
Limpdick LEONARD’S Sturmtruppen apologists argue, “Terra lost third ROBOTECH War- You cannot worry about an enemy that MAY or MAY NOT show up at a later date if you’re on the verge of being annihilated in the here and now.”
Of course, this ignores the fact that had Limpdick LEONARD properly lead the defense of Terra during the second war, the ASC would have been militarily and politically intact, not shattered into a billion warring factions, and therefore would have WON the third war. It also ignores the fact that the war wasn’t over- Pockets of resistance continued, and at least THREE SEPARATE CAMPAIGNS were launched to liberate Terra from the Invid- The last of which was an all-or-nothing bid to destroy the Invid, even if it meant destroying Terra in the process. A hard decision to make- One that would have made LEONARD proud.
Those same Sturmtruppen also ague, “The main ASC fleet was still intact at the close of the war.”
Which proves my point all the more succinctly; An in-tact battle fleet SHOULD have been able to re-instill order and rebuild the basic necessities of Terra in weeks, not years- After all, the UES MACROSS (SDF-001) under GLOVAL was able to do so in 06 MONTHS. Further, the Invid coming to Terra were little more than starving refugees at the time of arrival; This same battle fleet SHOULD have been able to sweep them aside as if they’d never come. Yet they didn’t even attempt to, or so it would seem- ¿Why? Because the ground forces were shattered beyond repair, the body politic was broken, and the ASC was effectively defeated. Inevitably, it’s like argue the Iraqi Army “won” the wars their country has fought against the US with “Hey, they were still around after the first, and there’s an insurgency after the second”.
Limpdick LEONARD’S Sturmtruppen apologists argue, “Had the Invid waited ten or twenty years (like the Masters) they probably would have been repelled by the fully recovered ASC. I for one am willing to put alot of money on an AJAC vrs a an Invid anything.”
I, for one, am not willing to give the ASC any credit at this point; After all, they were unable to take on the Mecha of the Tiresians, how could they hope to take on the Mecha the Invid, who’s experience with the Tiresians meant they’d had over a thousand years to develop designs that could take on everyone; Indeed, they’d already managed to force a few of the Tiresian Empire worlds (one such battle is where Zor dies). Those that didn’t flee earth after their defeat either defected to the Invid or went underground- Most of the later to latter be murdered by their former comrade in arms (as shown by Corporal LANCER’S narrow escape).
The defeat of the ASC was a case study in a broken corporate model for militry and governmental institutions:

    Too much authority tied to too few people (most notably LEONARD’S absolute control of the ASC);
    Inadequate to non-existent succession of power or authority capability (most notably the ASC);
    Too much political authority in the hands of the militry;
    Improper preparation for an invasion (the build-up of the ground forces to quell an insurrection, rather than the build-up and equipping of a battle fleet to repulse said insurrection);
    Inadequate motivation (in particular, the abandonment of their posts by ASC members at the close of the second war).

Summation:

While LEONARD was in no way guilty of cowardice before the enemy, he IS guilty of:
  1. Incompetence: it is LEONARD’S failures in leadership that resulted in Terra’s defeat before the Tiresians in a mutual destruction, and the outright invasion by the Invid only a few years later.
      Disregarding Basic Militry Doctrine: His refusal to withdraw from his position when ZOR PRIME began his suicide attack in many ways precipitated the aforementioned defeat.
      Failure To Properly Prepare For Defense: LEONARD failed to properly prepare Terra’s defense for a series of attacks; Specifically:
      Failure To Develop Hardware; Specifically, the Mecha necessary. Though the VHT was a good Mecha,
      and certainly faster than RDF Destroids, it still was NOT adequate to the task at hand. 15 years to prepare
      for this war means that he has no excuse to have done so.
      Failure To Deploy Weapons; Specifically, Nuclear, Reflex, and other heavy weaps necessary to
      destroy/disable the Tiresians warships.
  2. Crimes Against Humanity: Specifically, authorizing, and probably ordering, scientific experimentation on Tiresian POW’s during the war. Though he never confessed to this crime, the absence not only of the prisoner but of all records related to him is the evidence that he allowed the crime to happen.
  3. Treason: His failures to properly defend Terra was the root cause of her defeat before the Tiresians. The ASC’s defeat by the Tiresians, a fifth-rate pseudo-empire on it’s last leg, can only be accounted for by a criminal failure of thought (ala Enron).
  4. Murder: EMMERSON, Rolf A, General, Army of the Southern Cross. First Degree, with deception.
Finally, the last mistake of LEONARD- “Go if you want. I am staying here till the battle is over!” As Commander-In-Chief of the ASC, it was LEONARD’S duty to escape, to rebuild. Had he at least done this, the greater majority of the ASC may have remained intact, and blunted the Invid Invasion, assuring the REF upon their return a control area for the liberation of Terra. (See Succession Of Authority, above.)

The Defense:

The Robotech NAZI Party deserves their defense, however libelous, insinoues, assine, and untruthful it may be. I therefore call upon them to answer these charges. Excuses, cop-out, dodges, and blame-gaming need not be presented.
DOLL- HEAR ME AND HEAR ME WELL- UNTIL YOU ANSWER THESE CHARGES, YOU ARE STILL GUILTY. You will remain guilty of Fascism until such time as you are DISBANNED, but your False God may be redeemed- IF YOU ANSWER THE ALLEGATIONS MADE, without blaming others (EMMERSON did what he was told to do, and DIED in the process), dodging the allegation (“Well, GLOVAL endangered thousands of people”), nor any other attempt to lie your way out of it.

Judgement:

Guilty pending a defense presentation.
Current Date: 29 AUGUST, 2ØØ7
Defense Filings Close: 29 AUGUST, 2ØØ8
Defense filing after that will not be accepted; LEONARD is guilty. (Date extended 3 days for cause; An after-deployment edit forced us, by fairness, to allow the Fascists the extra three days.)

Notation 2

In many respects, I do NOT hate LEONARD. He died a fool, but he died brave. Had he accomplished the simple tasks above (most critically, deploying nuclear bombs in sufficient quantities to the space fleet), he could easily have won the war, politicking or no. This document is mostly an indictment not of LEONARD himself- But his “Disciples.”

Notation 3

LEONARD’S own ‘disciples’ argue that he was a hard-nosed, no excuses commander, who treated subordinates shabbily. With the exception of Rolf EMMERSON (a matter in dispute), he performed his duties much the same as thousands of militry commanders before him. That LEONARD was not Fred ROGERS is not a failing on his part; it was one of his most critical strengths. LEONARD was a fine warlord- And when bullets start flying, it’s time for a Warlord Supreme. Unfortunately, LEONARD suffered from a not terribly uncommon affliction of militry commanders; He rose to a rank above his abilities. He was a fine Major, maybe even to the rank of Colonel, but above that was above his abilities.
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