Replies

The blog owner said to me:

So, tell me in specific detail why Rumsfeld isn’t mind-numbingly incompetent. Tell me how the administration insistence that the war was going to be a cakewalk has served our national security interests.

Here’s a tip: see if you can defend Bush without mentioning Clinton. I dare ya.

My reply:

Hmm...prove Rummy isn’t incompetent.

Prove a negative.

Oooookay.

1. Over the objections of a bunch of stodgy, stuck-in-the-Cold-War brass (ever the targets of the “real” soldiers’ scorn), he carried out a sweeping modernization of the military, and the Army in particular (in which I have particular interest) in terms of organization, equipment, and technology, and brought in some of the “young turks” who have recently seen combat in the ME and the Horn of Africa to study and revamp battle tactics. A huge amount of this was underway before 9-11, and while it is not yet complete-- these things take time and money, neither of which is ever infinitely available-- it led directly into the next two items.

2. On order, deployed sufficient forces and resupply to carry out guerilla-assisted warfare against the Taliban and reduced it to where it is today… a significant threat, but no longer (a) a national government or (b) secure in any kind of “homeland”. Where the Taliban dares appear, there it quickly dies, usually at the hand of our Afghan allies.

3. On order, deployed a completely different set of forces for a different type of warfare on a different set of terrain. Hampered by Turkey’s refusal to permit a pincers movement from the north, nonetheless effected a 21-day take-down of a significant regional power, breaking records in terms of speed, lightness of casualty, etc. etc. etc. Yes, in historical terms, it was a cakewalk. The street-gang violence occurring now is no more “war” than the Watts Riots were; they differ only in scope, weapons, and purpose.

4. Continued (I almost said continues, but we’ve seen what happened to that) to maintain the US armed forces in a high state of readiness, continuing to meet missions in Germany (!) Italy (!) Japan (!) the Philippines (!) Bosnia-Herzegovina (!) and a myriad others, maintaining troop morale in the face of concentrated efforts to demoralize them, etc. etc. etc.

5. A quick summary.

--modernized the force department-wide, presciently prior to the present emergency

--fought two victorious wars (standard of victory: regime change and alliance with the new governments

--maintained the military in as good a condition as any military involved in combat in more places than are reported has ever been.

The troops hope Mr. Gates will be equal to the task. There is scuttlebutt about a couple of retired Colonels and a serving naval officer being suitable replacements, but the general sense of the people on the ground is “change the man if you must, but keep the policy.”

This guy has been opposed since day one by people whose cheese he moved, whose fiefdoms he disturbed, and whose status quo he de-statussed. He had the temerity to smile while he did it. He had the balls to say “You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want or would wish to have,” and while the press’n’pundity gasped over his insensitivity, the troops nodded in complete understanding.

The troops loved him, and are sorry to see him go.

I ain’t got no steenking links, by the way. This stuff is known, and all ya gotta know is who to ask. And I ain’t sharin’. Some of these guys want to remain anonymous, and I still haven’t told everything I know.

Until this moment, BJ the Clown has not made an appearance. Dare taken.

Good job - you've hit on many of the reasons I like Rummy. I particularly loved him during press conferences when he'd shut down stupid people asking stupid questions. My inner Chloe lives for stuff like that.

My criticism of him come down to the budget allocations within the DoD. Yes, he 'modernized' the current force and is pushing an ultra-modernized future force. But what is not being asked is how much more modernization could have happened if the Army was fully funded. I'm not comfortable discussing the particulars in the open forum but vital programs - essential to modernization - keep getting chopped by Congress. Year after year after year after year. Even the work on the future force is getting cut back. Who is getting the funding? The Air Force. They dominate at the joint level and Rummy never broke free of that influence.

Yes, you go to war with the Army you've got. But you have to equip the Army to fight the war you've got. We've got a guerilla war now. Guerilla wars are not won with air superiority. They're won with boots on the ground.

Rummy did a lot of good. A LOT of good. My prayer is that Gates can build on what Rumsfeld started, but apportion the funding to the services according to who is doing the heavy lifting.