I'll Take Six Generals Over Rummy Any Day
Retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste -"We went to war with a flawed war plan. . . .There was 10 years of good, deliberate war planning by U.S. Central Command that was essentially ignored." Rumsfeld "didn't understand leadership, was abusive, was arrogant, and didn't build a strong team."
Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, former director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff- "We need fresh ideas and fresh faces. That means, as a first step, replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach. The troops in the Middle East have performed their duty. Now we need people in Washington who can construct a unified strategy worthy of them. It is time to send a signal to our nation, our forces and the world that we are uncompromising on our security but are prepared to rethink how we achieve it. It is time for senior military leaders to discard caution in expressing their views and ensure that the President hears them clearly. And that we won't be fooled again." (Time, 4/17/06)
Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who oversaw the training of Iraqi troops - “[T]he commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions--or bury the results... a fundamentally flawed plan was executed for an invented war, while pursuing the real enemy, al-Qaeda, became a secondary effort.” (Sunday, March 19 New York Times)
Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, former head of the U.S. Central Command - "Rumsfeld Should "Absolutely" Resign. Asked if anyone should resign in the face of the crisis in Iraq, Zinni said, "Absolutely." Asked who, Zinni responded, "Secretary of Defense, to begin with." Zinni also said, "there's a series of disastrous mistakes. We just heard the secretary of state say these were tactical mistakes. These were not tactical mistakes. These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policy made back here. Don't blame the troops. They're the ones that perform the tactics on the ground. They've been magnificent. If anything saves this, it will be them." (NBC News, Meet the Press, 4/2/06)
Retired Army major general, Charles H. Swannack Jr. - "I really believe that we need a new secretary of defence because Secretary Rumsfeld carried way too much baggage with him," he told CNN. "Specifically, I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces."
Retired Army major general, John Riggs - "They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda. I think that's a mistake, and that's why I think he should resign." (National Public Radio).
And don't forget a 7th general - Gen. Eric Shinseki, the former Army chief of staff, who in February 2003 said that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to occupy Iraq, an estimate that Rumsfeld publicly repudiated, saying it was "far off the mark."
Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold, former director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff- "We need fresh ideas and fresh faces. That means, as a first step, replacing Rumsfeld and many others unwilling to fundamentally change their approach. The troops in the Middle East have performed their duty. Now we need people in Washington who can construct a unified strategy worthy of them. It is time to send a signal to our nation, our forces and the world that we are uncompromising on our security but are prepared to rethink how we achieve it. It is time for senior military leaders to discard caution in expressing their views and ensure that the President hears them clearly. And that we won't be fooled again." (Time, 4/17/06)
Army Maj. Gen. Paul D. Eaton, who oversaw the training of Iraqi troops - “[T]he commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions--or bury the results... a fundamentally flawed plan was executed for an invented war, while pursuing the real enemy, al-Qaeda, became a secondary effort.” (Sunday, March 19 New York Times)
Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, former head of the U.S. Central Command - "Rumsfeld Should "Absolutely" Resign. Asked if anyone should resign in the face of the crisis in Iraq, Zinni said, "Absolutely." Asked who, Zinni responded, "Secretary of Defense, to begin with." Zinni also said, "there's a series of disastrous mistakes. We just heard the secretary of state say these were tactical mistakes. These were not tactical mistakes. These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policy made back here. Don't blame the troops. They're the ones that perform the tactics on the ground. They've been magnificent. If anything saves this, it will be them." (NBC News, Meet the Press, 4/2/06)
Retired Army major general, Charles H. Swannack Jr. - "I really believe that we need a new secretary of defence because Secretary Rumsfeld carried way too much baggage with him," he told CNN. "Specifically, I feel he has micromanaged the generals who are leading our forces."
Retired Army major general, John Riggs - "They only need the military advice when it satisfies their agenda. I think that's a mistake, and that's why I think he should resign." (National Public Radio).
And don't forget a 7th general - Gen. Eric Shinseki, the former Army chief of staff, who in February 2003 said that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to occupy Iraq, an estimate that Rumsfeld publicly repudiated, saying it was "far off the mark."
posted by Anonymous at 7:26 PM
2 Comments:
The mark of a strong leader is that he isn't afraid to make tough decisions.
When an incompetent is making one bad decision after another, and the price is paid in lives, it shouldn't even be that hard to see what decision to make.
A strong leader would see how much more important that is than personal friendship. He would fire the person, or maybe reassign them or something, but would not just keep them there.
Certainly from this point on, any more bad choices that Rumsfeld makes are on Bush's hands as well.
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. And the Bush Admin is filled with little minds who keep their thoughts consistent with the leaker-in-chief in order to keep their jobs. By the way there is a 7th retired US general calling for Rumsfeld to be fired or step down: Wesley Clark. The media keeps forgetting to include him because he ran for president as a Democrat, but he’s a retired US general just like the others.
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