Posted on 09/25/2006 6:38:12 PM PDT by John Carey
Three retired U.S. Army Officers address a congressional committee on the war in Iraq in starkly harsh words Monday.
“I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq,” retired Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste told a forum conducted by Senate Democrats.
A second military leader, also a retired two-star general, Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, assessed Rumsfeld as “incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically.”
A third officer, retired Col. Paul X. Hammes, joined Batiste and Eaton in testimony before the Democratic Policy Committee of the U.S. Senate. The unusual location was chosen, Democrats said, because the Republican leadership in the Senate has not permitted thorough oversight of the war in Iraq from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND) said majority Republicans had failed to conduct hearings on the issue, adding, “if they won’t … we will.”
All three officers who testified served in Iraq, and Batiste also was senior military assistant to then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
Batiste, who commanded the Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, also blamed Congress for failing to ask “the tough questions.”
He said Rumsfeld at one point threatened to fire the next person who mentioned the need for a postwar plan in Iraq.
“Mr. Rumsfeld and his immediate team must be replaced or we will see two more years of extraordinarily bad decision-making,” General Eaton said.
(Excerpt) Read more at johnib.wordpress.com ...
No need to excerpt one's own blog unless said blogger is soliciting hits.
Looks like chruchillstuff has a new girl friend.
The guy who was commander of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq is an armchair general? I'm sure he'd be amused by that description.
The general who was the senior military advisor to Wolfowitz wasn't exactly out of the loop, either.
Did you read the article, or do you just disagree with it because it is bad news?
How many active Generals are there...have any of them stepped forward...and inactive. I bet there is close to 1,000 current and former generals. So they three or four to say Rummy should go? My, aren't they brave.
Amazing isn't it? Do these agenda driven idiots ever consider that we just might know that a handful of generals can be found to support any given view at any given time?
Make that 10,000 active duty and retired flag officers...Tony Snow brought this up the last time there was a "revolt of the generals"....it was a whopping 8 that time.
Yep, and from a blogger soliciting hits --- no need to excerpt his own column.
A dog-and-pony show but on by Senate Democrats. These former generals should have more professional pride than to act like such political whores.
When you can only get three generals out of 10,000 living current and past flag officers your point is pretty weak.
LOL! You're a baaaaaaad boy.
JC, onyx just complimented you!
Weak is an understatement. How about pathetic?
You sure about that?
LOL
Go Rummy Go
Hullo? John???? Mr. Carey? anyone home? Whassup?
Working for the Chinese?
These retired military men and their Democrat handlers need to shut up. Can anyone imagine this happening in the course of a past war?
Among the 3 of them they've only got 4 stars.
And it wasn't before "congress." It was before a democratic group called so they could get a headline that said, "retired generals before congress."
Democratic Campaign committee working overtime to create news.
Kerry - Vietnam (but he wasn't a general...just a presidential wannabe).
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