Fighting the SecDef instead of fighting the war

The American Thinker ^ | Jan. 10, 2005 | Douglas Hanson

[Kitten Festival]

The campaign to oust Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld continues unabated at The Weekly Standard, with the latest salvo being fired by Frederick Kagan in his article Fighting the Wrong War. Mr. Kagan attempts to make a reasoned, thoughtful counter to Rummy’s defenders, but instead discusses key issues in generalities rather than specifics, and fails to place events of the 90s and today within an accurate historical context.

Kagan charges Rummy’s defenders with evasion, and an over-reliance on

“deflecting all criticism from him [Rumsfeld] onto the Clinton administration.”

In a sense, he is right that what has occurred in the past should not hinder us from correcting problems in the present. But there are real obstacles which must be overcome, and cannot be wished away. Kagan soft-pedals the near-disastrous effects of the failings of the civilian and military leadership installed by the Clinton administration’s in the 1990s, and ignores the realities of undoing them.

[Kitten Festival]

Some people just don't get it! Like Rummy's detractors. This is a fine essay.

[T.L.Sink]

When my subscritption to the Weekly Standard expired about
a year ago I didn't renew because it really doesn't
represent the best of conservative thought, as your commentary about the Rumsfeld matter indicates. I much prefer the National Review. And, incidentally, R. Ponnuru
mentioned in an article that Fred Barnes and many of the
Standard are "big-government" conservatives.Bill Kristol
et.al. are sometimes right on foreign policy but I don't
think any believe in the traditional conservative position
of limited government and greater individual freedom.
Recently, David Frum had an excellent article in National
Review telling just why Rumsfeld should be retained.