Admiral Ozzel...Idiot or Traitor?

Vader said Ozzel was, "as clumsy as he is stupid," because he nearly botched the entire assault on Hoth. Clearly, Ozzel was against the attack, but why? Do you think it was plain arrogance, since Piett found it first or could he possibly have been a Rebel sympathizer. Vader's comment could mean he either was simply an arrogant moron or that he was caught red handed.

Which do you think?

J

 

Not an idiot, he just doesn't have the force, so he can't sense the base is the rebel's like Vader can. Piett goes along with Vader well, but it's Vader who really believes it. As for the coming out of lightspeed to close to the system, we'll that could be seen as idiotic. But the thing is, you never know with Vader. Maybe he was just in a bad mood when he killed him.

 

I always just assumed he was an arogant arss. I doubt a Rebel sympathiser could make it that far up the Imperial chain-of-command. He was probably in his position because he was viewed by the Emperor as "politicaly reliable", not because he was a compitent officer. This happens a lot in totaletarian regims. In the 30's, Stalin had his best officers cliped and replaced them with political hacks(and he paid for it at the begining of WWII). I don't think Vader had much patience with political appointees, he wanted results.

 

I don't think Ozzell was an idiot, I just think that he was not sure of what was going on. While he is not the brightest person in the world, I do not think he was a traitor

 

That's true, Vader's doesn't tend to have patience for incompetence.

 

Vadar was just frustrated and blaming others for the rebels. The rebels knew the Empire was on its way and had already begun evacuation plans.

If coming the fleet had come out of hyperspace farther away they would still have had to try and creep in slowly to attack the base. It isn't as though they had long range guns which could hit the planet while the ships could not be detected.

 

You're right, if you make a mistake it's basically [force choke]. As for Ozzel I think he just thought he knew how to attack Hoth better than Vader did and he paid the price for failure.

 

Yeah, I forgot that he pretty much went over Vader's head with that decision.

 

My vote is for idiot. If he was a traitor Vader would have sniffed that out through the force IMO. He thought he was going to treat Vader like he had probably seen Tarkin treat him in the past. Only problem was, Vader moved up a step in the food chain after Tarkin's death.

 

You would think that as an Admiral he would know that disobeying Vader means death. Basically Vader kills anyone who displeases him, you think that Ozzzel would have realized changing a battle plan would not be a good idea.

 

I've always perceived Ozzel as an arrogant know-it-all. He appears to be a "text book" type Admiral. Book smart? Yes. Ability to apply his knowledge and/or experience in a productive manner? No. I don't get the impression that he was a traitor by any means. I think he was a typical Imperial Officer who was obsessed with moving up the ranks. He made knee-jerk reactions to situations, which spoke loudly about what type of tactical strategist he was. Vader has been aware of this for some time, which is why he ridded himself of Ozzel's incompetence.

 

[image=http://sugarmrpoon.com/images/fooled.jpg]

No...Ozzel went over his...helmet!

I don't think Ozzel was incompetant per se...unless he rose to the rank of Admiral based on politics alone. He rushed the decision and took too MUCH initiative in that one little case, but it was enough to get him a pinched windpipe that day.

 

Which was the punishment for every officer who displayed imcompetance during the events of ESB

 

And we all think our bosses suck...

Moral?

You don't spit into the Sith. You don't tug on Lord Vader's cape. You don't pull the mask off of old Boba Fett and you don't mess around with a Hutt. I wouldn't do that onah deet deet da deedah deet..

 

We all make mistakes, Ozzel just made his at the wrong time.

And Ozzel is dead in real life too.

 

True, Vader probably would have sniffed him out if he was a sympathizer. It just seemed like he Really did not want to go to Hoth.

J

 

Ozzel did not believe the rebels were there and assumed Vader was just on a hunch. Like he told Vader, it could have been anything, so instead of taking Vader's advice, he decides to get close to the planet as if he were going: "All right, fine, let's get this over with.", and he paid the price for that.

 

I never understood why it was bad that they dropped out of hyperspace 'too close' to the system. I mean, they were going to attack the base anyways, I presume it's easier to do that at close range, and if they had taken all the time to creep up on the base from afar, the Rebels would all have bene gone by the time they arrived.

 

I think he was just stupid.

 

But not clumsy? Well, at least he was only half incompetent. Another happy choking.

 

His Starwars.com Databank entry says that his family was one of the wealthiest on Carida and he essentially bought his way into the Navy. He got the rank of Admiral during the power void after all the good officers were killed along with the Death Star.

All signs point to stupid.

Warrior_of_Mandalore Strikes Again!

 

Carida?

That's where my namesake is from.

Seems old Praji did alright. No pinched windpipes for him, as far as I can tell.

Guess I need to check the databank and see what his eventual fate was.

 

I read some where that Ozzel's son was one of the Snow Speeder pilots that's why he was hesitant to attack Hoth.

 

Admiral Ozzel was incompetent for coming out of lightspeed too close to Hoth. The Rebels were not suppose to aware of the Imperials. Vader felt the Rebels should be ambushed without any hint that they would be. Too bad Ozzel messed that up.

Imperials to me were not very good military officers.

 

Ozzel wasn't too bright.