Another General Calls For Rumsfeld's Resignation.

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: CessnaFlyer
4 generals out of what, about 2000?

6 retired generals. And many more active generals are grumbling about rumsfeld's incompetence but can't do so publicly because it's illegal.

 

[fitzov]

Politics and warfare do not mix.

 

[conjur]

Paper: Rumsfeld being quietly undermined by own military
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Paper..._being_quietly_undermined_by_0417.html

Five years ago, when Donald Rumsfeld took over at the Pentagon, he quickly moved to assert greater civilian control over senior military officers. But now, well into the Bush administration's second term, there are signs that his firm grip on the Defense Department is slipping as some uniformed officers increasingly chart their own course, the WALL STREET JOURNAL reports on registration-restricted Monday page ones. Excerpts:
#

Well before the recent calls by a half-dozen retired Army and Marine Corps generals for Mr. Rumsfeld's resignation, there was an increasing challenge to his ideas about warfare from within the senior officer ranks...

While there is no sign the military leadership inside the Pentagon is ignoring or defying Mr. Rumsfeld's orders, senior military officials in a number of cases seem more willing to go their own way, even if that means publicly questioning or quietly trying to undo some of Mr. Rumsfeld's initiatives. "Many of his war-fighting concepts are turning out to be impractical. People are walking away from them," said Robert Killebrew, a retired colonel who spent much of his career as a strategist within top commands inside the Army. He described Mr. Rumsfeld as "increasingly a spent force."

...

Though the criticism revolves around the difficult situation in Iraq, the unease reflects fundamental disagreement about how wars should be fought. Mr. Rumsfeld came into office with a mandate to shift the military from a force designed for the Cold War to one suited to today's unpredictable threats. He railed against inefficiencies in the military. "I have no desire to attack the Pentagon. I want to liberate it. We need to save it from itself," he said in a speech one day before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Initially, the strategy seemed to bear fruit in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld argued that the speed of the assault by the relatively small U.S. force caught Mr. Hussein by surprise, preventing him from bursting dams or torching oilfields. But as that swift success gave way to looting and an increasingly violent insurgency, officers in the Army and Marines began to question whether technology could in fact transform how wars were fought.

FULL PAID STORY HERE

 

[Lemon law]

In some ways Rummy is a whip smart analyist-----the same was said of Robert McNamera--regarding Viet-Nam.
But when their analysis and reality go off in two different directions---the whip smart are often the last to notice.
And are usually the most inept at changing tactics.

And lest I fail to mention---they lack the people skills--and that lack is their doom.--when its obvious to them they are right but less smart people are the vast majority---and they seldom see the same clear path to reason. --so the policy fails for that reason.

 

[Grunt03]

This entire situatiion sucks, I have been in the Military for th epast 22+ years.
I have never had so much hatred for an individual in my life. Being part of the military and seeing that Rumsfield is in our direct chain of command, we are not supposed to
question the orders he passes down. It is about time that some of the leadership within our ranks step forward and voice a concern. Our military is being pushed to the breaking point and for what. We have been the target for cutbacks, base closures and reduceing our force strenght. The deployment tempo in the military is out of control with no end in sight. Divorce rates are up, recruiting goals are not being met and getting service members to stay in for additional terms is also suffering. We have troops going back to Iraq for the fourth and fifth deployment.

I do not know what if anything can be done, I am just very happy that at least some of the Military Leadership have stepped up. I also know that it will not change anything. The sad fact is that if the generals are told to drop it and suck it up, then that is what they will do.

 

[Lemon law]

To Grunt03,

That you for your input. I am an ex-VietNam war opponent---but I have never hated our soldiers--just the military leaders
who so blindly waste lives and rattle sabers at behest of the idiot commander and chief. I get doubly scared when the entire Bush administration is being led by people who have never been in the military. And never having been exposed to the hazard of bullets being fired in anger coming within even hundreds of miles of where they are or aimed at anyone they know. Some of our best Presidents have been ex-military--and many of those avoided war if possible,

At least in the case of the VietNam war, it took at least 20 years for the US military to rehabilitate their public image. I fear the Iraq war may have a worse effect. I am also very fearful that GWB and Rummy may well have detroyed the reserve
military system, a crucial component of the US military.

But it is important that normal decent people are in our ranks-----our military is maybe rotting from the top. I can understand how hard it is to speak up, but what you said does restore much faith that the military is very sound at the botton and middle. Someday this Iraq war will be over---it might even have a semi-happy ending. But the citizen soldier should always be honored. You have my respect. Its the lasting damage to our military that I fear also.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Originally posted by: CessnaFlyer
4 generals out of what, about 2000?

Stop quoting dumbsfeld.